AN: So this is the last chapter! After this, there will only be an Epilog. I hope you like it :)
Lydia woke up because she felt someone shaking her shoulder.
"Lydia, wake up!" she heard Jamie say.
She opened her eyes slowly and noticed that her eyes were watery and tears were streaming down her face.
"What happened?" she asked, confused while wiping away the tears even though they just kept coming.
"You were screaming and thrashing around and you wouldn't wake up. We have been trying to wake you up for at least 3 minutes." Sophia said, relief evident in her eyes but Lydia could also still see the panic that she must have felt when Lydia wouldn't wake up.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Jamie asked.
"I don't know, I don't remember." Lydia answered and suddenly everything came back to her. The man in the woods, attacking her and pushing her further into the woods. But in her dream Stiles hadn't come to save her and she had been all alone. The tears were streaming down her face again and Lydia just wanted to call Stiles and have him put his arms around her but she knew she couldn't.
Lydia knew she had to tell her cousins about what had happened. And maybe it was good to talk to someone about it, to get it out of her system. So far no one knew about it except for Stiles and they hadn't really talked about it because she didn't want to and because he was there with her.
She decided that she would tell them in the morning. Now they all needed to get some sleep and Lydia only wanted to try to forget about the attack for now. Sophia and Jamie were both very understanding and after making sure Lydia was okay to stay in the guestroom by herself, they went back to their rooms.
Lydia couldn't fall back asleep. She was afraid of having nightmares again and she didn't want to scream and wake her cousins again. She spent the rest of the night trying not to call Stiles and thought about everything that had happened since they had left Beacon Hills four days ago. She couldn't believe that they had only left four days ago. To Lydia it felt like a lifetime because so much had changed in such a short amount of time.
She didn't know that it was possible to develop such strong feelings for someone in less than a week. Even though she had already had feelings for Stiles, she couldn't deny how much they had increased since they had started the road trip. When she had finally allowed herself to have these feelings for Stiles and had stopped to suppress them, they had multiplied by the second. She had started to notice all the little things that Stiles did for her so naturally. He held open every door for her, always made sure she was happy and comfortable and when she wasn't he did his best to change whatever was bothering her.
But then he had lied to her and now she couldn't trust him anymore. She knew that it was only a little lie and that her reaction probably seemed totally out of line for everyone else, but it wasn't about what he lied about. It was about the fact that he lied to her in the first place.
After tossing and turning and trying her hardest not to fall asleep it was finally morning and Lydia decided to get up and make breakfast to make up for the interrupting their sleep. She already dreaded the upcoming conversation but she felt ready for it and she wanted to get it out of the way.
"Good morning, you are just on time", Lydia greeted Sophia and Jamie when they walked in just as she was putting scrambled eggs on their plates.
"That smells delicious!" Jamie complimented and started taking the plates to the already set table. They sat down and ate and Sophia and Jamie told Lydia about college and everything else they could think of. But they could all feel the elephant in the room, they were still wondering what Lydia's nightmare had been about.
After breakfast the three girls went into the living room and got comfortable and Lydia started to tell them what happened. She told them about the disgusting restrooms, the man in the woods, Stiles coming to help her and about Stiles comforting her. When she got to the part of the attack a few tears escaped her eyes but other than that she was able to keep it together.
"So you haven't spent one night without Stiles since then except for last night?" Sophia asked thoughtfully.
"No, why?" Lydia asked confused by her question. She had expected all kinds of questions, but that one hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Well, because this was the first night that you have had a nightmare since it happened and I thought that maybe he could be reason that you.." Sophia explained.
"No!" Lydia interrupted the second she understood where Sophia was going with this. "I really don't want to talk about him."
"Sorry…" Sophia apologised. She didn't want to push Lydia but she was convinced that Stiles was the right one for Lydia. "How about we stay in our PJ's and watch movies all day?" She added to lighten the mood.
"Best. Idea. Ever!" Lydia said grinning at her cousin. They got all the blankets and pillows and made themselves comfortable on the floor. One hour into the second film Lydia fell asleep.
Stiles was feeling awful. He had screwed up and he knew it. Since didn't have anywhere to go he had spent the night in his jeep at a parking lot near Sophia and Jamie's apartment. He was still hoping for Lydia to call him to tell him to come back. He wanted to call her and apologise again but every time he picked up his phone he heard Sophia's words in his mind, telling him to give her space.
He knew that Sophia was right but it was really difficult not to call Lydia and to try to make everything okay again. He couldn't stand knowing that she was suffering and not being able to do anything about it. Especially now that he was the reason she was hurting.
Stiles spent the morning driving around, looking for cheap motel that was also close to Lydia. He had thought about just staying in his jeep for the two weeks but his back was already hurting pretty bad after only one night. And he didn't want to find out how bad it would be after two weeks.
Around two pm Stiles finally heard the sound he had been waiting for since he had left the apartment. He picked up his phone and answered it without looking at the screen.
"Lydia?" he asked hopeful.
"Hey, no, um this is Sophia. I'm sorry that I'm calling but we don't know what to do anymore…" Sophia stuttered, her voice full of worry.
"What happened? Is Lydia okay?" Stiles asked, panic already taking over.
"No, I don't know! Can you come over?"
"I'll be there in 10 minutes!"
A few minutes after Lydia had fallen asleep she started to toss and turn and even though she didn't scream, tears were streaming down her face again. Sophia and Jamie had tried to wake her up and they had eventually succeeded but Lydia wouldn't stop crying. Jamie and Sophia both tried to comfort her but when they tried to hug her she had started to scream. Neither of them knew what to do and the only thing Sophia could think of was to call Stiles.
"I'm going to call Stiles", she had told Lydia and even though Lydia had protested she called him anyway.
10 minutes after they had hung up Stiles knocked on their door. He immediately went into the living room, following the noise of crying. When he saw Lydia in the midst of all the blankets, crying and sobbing, his heart clenched. He went over to her and tried to touch her shoulder but before he could make contact with her skin, Jamie stopped him.
"Wait. When we tried to touch her she screamed…" Jamie explained, warning him.
Stiles just nodded and knelt down next to Lydia. She was lying on her side, her back to Stiles. Stiles lightly touched her shoulder and the second she felt it she turned around getting ready to scream. But when she saw Stiles' face she whispered his name and threw herself into his arms. He sat down properly and pulled her closer to him, holding her as tightly as he could.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She kept whispering while he mumbled soothing noises into her hair. She seemed to calm down a little and finally she looked up.
"I'm sorry!" she repeated again, this time looking into his eyes. "I shouldn't have told you to leave", she admitted.
"It's okay. Don't apologise, Lydia, I'm the one who screwed up. But I'm here now and I won't go anywhere, okay?" he assured her and she buried her face back in his shirt.
They stayed like this until Lydia had calmed down completely. She stood up and pulled Stiles to sit on the couch with her. Lydia just stared at him and he couldn't read the emotion in her eyes. He didn't think that she was still angry at him but he also wasn't sure how to act around her after everything.
"We should probably talk… But before you yell at me or whatever you have planned I just want to say that the only reason I lied was to help you! I have seen the look in your eyes when you told me about your fear of flying and I just knew that I had to help you somehow! And I knew you would say no because you would never let me do this for you but…"
But before he could finish his speech Lydia cut him off by pressing her lips to his. She couldn't wait any longer and she didn't want to talk about their stupid fight anymore. She knew that she had overreacted but when she had found out, it had seemed like the start of her relationship with Jackson all over again and she had snapped.
But now that he was right in front of her she realised that Stiles had lied for an entirely different reason than Jackson had used to. Jackson had lied for his own good and to keep Lydia from finding out what he had really been up to. But Stiles had lied to her for her benefit. He had done it to make sure she wouldn't have to board a plane and was still able to visit her cousins. And she had finally realised that it was indeed a different kind of lying and it proved once again that Stiles was nothing like Jackson.
Stiles was surprised by her kiss but the second he felt her lips on his he started to kiss her back. They were completely lost in the moment for a while until Lydia remembered her cousins. They had left the room when they saw that Stiles was able to comfort her to give them some privacy.
"I should really talk to Sophia and Jamie", Lydia said between kisses, not moving to actually get up.
"Yes, they are probably still worried", Stiles replied in the same way.
They eventually let go of each other reluctantly and Lydia walked into Jamie's room where she found her two cousins, talking silently.
"Hey", Lydia said and they looked up and walked over to Lydia to hug her. But they both stopped a few inches in front of her, remembering how Lydia had reacted the last time they had touched her.
"It's okay to hug me now!" Lydia answered blushing, before she closed the distance and hugged her cousins.
"You really scared us there!" Sophia said after they had let go of each other.
"I know, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. But thanks for calling Stiles, that really helped." Lydia said thankfully.
"Of course!" Sophia answered. "I really like him by the way, I think you should keep him", she joked, lightning the mood. "Oh and he can stay here with you of course, if you want to!"
"That would be great, thanks! And you are right; I plan on keeping him for a very long time!"