A few days had passed. Stiles insisted that Scott and Kira spend a little more time with him before he got worse. He didn't want them to leave immediately and come back and have their final memories of him even paler than he already is with skinny limbs, and red eyes. So they stayed with him. Stiles used his terminal illness to guilt Scott into watching the Star Wars Original Trilogy for the first time. Scott enjoyed it plenty, but he would have enjoyed it more if Arielle and Stiles weren't saying, "I love you" "I know" along with the movie. Apparently, that was how they watched the movies, regardless of who was watching along with them. After a few days, Stiles finally let them go find the cure once he started to feel his legs grow weaker. The Sheriff had been in and out when he wasn't working, but he wasn't worried about his son as long as Arielle was with him, which she was 24/7. Arielle swore she would never leave his side until the herb was in her hands. That was the most reassuring thing in the world to the Sheriff. He knew his son was in good hands.

Melissa opened the door the morning Scott and Kira left for the mountain range. The first thing she saw were two sleeping teenagers, one in a hospital bed and the other in a chair next to the bed. Their hands were on the bed, their fingers a single millimeter apart from each other. She didn't want to disturb such a peaceful scene, but Melissa hadn't seen Arielle home in days.

"Arielle…" Melissa said, rubbing her daughter's shoulder, "Arielle, wake up..."

Arielle squeezed her eyes and then woke up, stretching out in the chair and frowning at the discomfort.

"Did you spend the night again?" Melissa asked.

Arielle yawned, "I never left."

Melissa, shocked, but still not surprised at all, rubbed her daughter's back and helped her stand up. "Honey, you need to go home," she insisted, "Your father hasn't seen you in days and frankly, you could use a shower. Go home, get some real rest, clean yourself up, make your father some breakfast, and then come back to Stiles."

Arielle looked at him, peacefully sleeping. She took his hand again. "It's not him," she replied, "It's me. I'm the one who can't handle being away from him."

"I know," Melissa said, leading her away from his bedside to the door, "and as much as I admire your generosity and genuine concern, you need to think about what you can do for yourself. I guarantee you that by the time you get back, he'll still be asleep."

She chuckled and nodded. "Okay…"

Before leaving, Arielle placed a kiss on Stiles's forehead and started to leave the hospital. When she got into her car, the phone rang.

"Kira?" Arielle answered.

"Hey, Scott found something on Stiles's board," she said urgently, "It was one word. Nosoi."

"Nosoi?"

"Yeah. Do you know anything about that? He didn't write anything else beneath it. My guess is he probably glanced at it and wrote it down so he wouldn't forget it, but he never had the chance to finish."

"No, I might know something," Arielle said, "They're like evil death spirits who inhabit the bodies of humans through their noses. If the Ancient Greeks were still around, they'd say the Nosoi are responsible for the people who caused, say 9/11 or the Boston Bombings."

"Well the Nosoi aren't alone," Kira added, "They're also accompanied by the Kallikantzaroi."

"The ones who attacked Stiles and poisoned him…"

"Exactly. My guess is the Nosoi are inhabiting someone in Beacon Hills and whoever that is is now controlling the Kallikantzaroi."

"I still don't know how you guys can pronounce that so easily," Scott commented on the phone.

"Is there any way we can stop them?" Arielle asked, "We can just kill whoever it is, right?"

"Not exactly," Kira said, "Even if we kill the human, the spirit roams free and all we got is another innocent dead body on our hands. But I did find something online."

"How very Stiles of you," Arielle said quietly.

There was a pause as Kira pulled up the information on her phone. "Got it! It's a dagger that can expel the spirit and trap it inside."

Arielle thought back, knowing she saw a weird looking dagger before. Like the one that fell off of the creature when it fell and turned to green smoke. She pulled it out of her purse and touched the engraving on it.

"Would it have writing on it?" Arielle asked.

"Umm.. I think so, maybe," Kira answered.

Arielle nodded, suddenly much more satisfied than she was before. "I think I have it."

With the dagger in hand and the ambrosia on the way, Arielle was much more confident in ending this for good. She returned to her house, took a nice hot shower and blow-dried her hair, then met her dad in the kitchen for a nice breakfast of blueberry pancakes. It was a long time since Arielle and Agent McCall had a nice sit-down meal together. Ever since Agent McCall got his own place, he's been more distant than ever, but it didn't bother her all that much. Melissa agreed. It was important to spend time with her father, however, given their history, it wasn't necessary to see him all the time. Besides, he still had a key to the house and could visit whenever he wanted. "Call first," Melissa always says to him. She caught him up on Stiles's condition and he wished them all the luck in the world, which made her feel a little better. The only thing that was missing from this good day was not knowing who the Nosoi possessed/who was infecting the entire town.

Arielle waved goodbye to her dad as she watched him drive away. She was about to leave herself when she saw Theo walking down the street past her house.

"Oh hey," Theo waved, "Long time, no see."

"Theo…" Arielle said awkwardly, shoving her bag up onto her shoulder, "Hey."

"How are you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I've been better… Stiles has that disease that's wiping out the whole town."

"Oh shit," Theo gasped, "That sucks. I'm so sorry… and I mean that. I'm genuinely sorry."

"I believe you," she breathed, "but I can't stay and talk. I actually have to get back to him."

"Yeah, sure," he nodded.

She turned and walked off the porch to the car parked in the driveway. She unlocked it and pulled the door open, but was interrupted before she got in.

"I'd be lying if I said I hope he gets better…" Theo said, "because then I'd finally have my shot…" Arielle turned around and shook her head slowly, feeling so incredibly sorry for him, "But I'm not that guy..."

She nodded at him and tried to grin, but she got in her car instead. Theo watched her drive away, knowing that he'd always remember her as the one who got away, as cheesy as that was.

When Arielle returned to the hospital, she wasn't surprised at all to see Stiles still asleep in his bed. She quietly closed the door and walked up to his bed, grabbing his hand in hers again, somehow feeling absolutely complete again.

"Stiles…" she whispered sweetly, leaning in towards him, "Wake up, babe…" He snored. "I brought the Prequel Trilogy…" She pulled out the DVD copies she had in her living room and showed them off. He snored again. "Stiles?"

With no response, Arielle scoffed and leaned in closely to him, her forehead touching his. Right when her lips were about to touch his, he spoke. "Don't kiss me."

Arielle chuckled. "Why not?"

"I haven't brushed my teeth yet," he murmured.

"Wow, you will not go without brushing your teeth," Arielle said, then frowned as she backed up, "When did you wake up?"

He started opening his eyes slowly and heavily. "When you said Prequel Trilogy."

Arielle laughed and sat down in the chair.

"Not gonna lie," he continued, "I'm relieved you're back…"

"You knew I was gone?" she asked, "You were asleep the whole time."

He shrugged, "I knew. Trust me."

Arielle leaned against the bed, running the tips of her fingers along his jawline. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright," he answered, trying to sit himself up, but failing. Arielle handed him the remote to his bed.

"Well worry no longer," Arielle assured him, "Scott and Kira haven't gotten the ambrosia yet, but they will..."

Stiles didn't say anything, mostly because he noticed that Arielle wasn't looking at him when she said that. She always looks at him directly whenever she talks to him honestly. He knew her well enough to know when she was unsure about something. He tried to scoot himself over in the bed, then he patted the open spot next to her.

"Come here," he whispered.

Arielle smiled gently and crawled her way into the spot next to him. He wrapped an arm around her and she shuddered at the feeling his arm being skinnier than it was before. He rubbed his thumb against her shoulder to ease her.

"Do you remember that time I found out you were special?" he asked.

"You're gonna have to narrow it down," she said, mimicking a flip of the hair.

He chuckled, "I mean when you showed me your talent for the first time."

"By the locker room?"

"Yeah. That. I thought you were just a scared orphan delinquent with social problems. That was the day I realized you were much more than that…"

Arielle nodded and rested her head against his chest. "Do you wanna know what my moment was?"

"Tell me," he requested with a grin.

"In English class," she answered, "You were my only friend in that class… and we talked about our moms… I don't know, I guess I just saw a different side of you; one that was just as broken as I was."

"And, of course, we avoid cliches by still being a little broken."

"Everyone's a little broken."

He sighed and kissed her forehead. He whispered, "At least you're here to spend my last moments with me…"

"Don't say that," Arielle begged, "You're not going to die… even if they can't find the cure, I know what will end this once and for all."

"And if that doesn't work either?" Stiles said, "I don't want to spend my last moments fighting. I just want you to be here… I love you."

Arielle looked up at him, a little surprised but in the pleasant kind of way. That was the first time she heard him say it genuinely in a long time. "You love me?"

He nodded. "I truly… deeply… love you."

Their foreheads pressed together and Arielle whispered back, "Episode II: Attack of the Clones."

He laughed and kissed her on her lips, kissing her like it was going to be his last time, cherishing everything about it from the taste of her lips to the pounding of his heart that he felt in his weak chest.

"You deserve to know this, if I don't make it in time," Stiles said quietly, "It was the reason I had been so distant with you… I was planning a week for us at the safe house again. Things have been so crazy here, getting in the way of us, that I just wanted to take you away from it all… it was supposed to be a surprise, but the odds aren't looking too good for me right now… I thought you should know."

Arielle normally would have rejoiced at that idea, but he was holding her in his arms and dying as he spoke to her. She started to think of all the beautiful memories they could have made, all of the love they could have shared. It would have been a fantastic trip, probably better than the first one. Then she started to think of the first trip. When they saved each other's lives multiple times. When they laughed together. When he held her in front of the fireplace at night. When they almost burned the pancakes because they were distracted by each other. When they kissed for the first time. When they made love for the first time with each other. The list could go on and on forever, but the more Arielle started to think about it, the more emotional she got. She rested her head in his chest and started to cry quietly, tears slowly falling down her face and landing on his hospital gown. It was all going to be over soon if Scott and Kira didn't hurry up. More and more Arielle was accepting the idea that Stiles might die by the time the sun goes down, which made her cry even more. She could feel her heart being tugged at, like it wanted to be ripped from her chest. It was pain that she never once thought she would have to experience.

They were both respectively so weak, physically and emotionally, that they fell asleep in each other's arms, Arielle's tears evident on her cheeks and by the wet marks on Stiles's hospital gown. From outside the window, the storm clouds were forming over Beacon Hills as a young man's anger grew more and more like a grenade ready to explode. The thunder popped and Theo Raeken stood outside of Stiles's hospital window, patiently waiting for Arielle's body to fit perfectly with his as he comforts her over the death of the fallen Stiles Stilinski.