Escape to Bedside

Another round of strep…another and another case of strep for the boy and the sheriff just couldn't believe it. How could his usually healthy boy be getting so sick so often? At first he worried it was the stress of losing his mother but when this continued well into 7th grade and now the summer he worried it was something else. After the last bout of the nasty infection the doctor suggested Stiles have his tonsils removed. And the sheriff never wanted to see Stiles with strep ever again, so he agreed and scheduled the surgery as soon as possible.

Of course, as soon as the boys learned that one would have to have surgery they freaked. Scott wanted to be there. He knew how much Stiles hated hospitals. But the sheriff and Melissa knew that this wasn't practical. Especially considering that the surgery had been scheduled for three in the morning so the sheriff didn't have to take too much time off work. Plus, it was a simple procedure. People have to done all the time, right? The actual surgery only takes about 30 minutes. The most of it is pre- and post-op. So, they patiently told the boys that Melissa would take Scott to the hospital before school, which would be around the time Stiles would be out of the grogginess of it all, and they could see each other for a bit. And then Scott had to go to school. Because seventh grade is important, it's the beginning of the year and Scott is already falling behind in some of his classes. However, they didn't get Scott to agree to the plan until they told him that he needed to go to take notes for Stiles.

The plan was set. But, like everything else in their lives, the plan didn't go as expected. Poor Stiles was nervous as hell. He almost passed out when they were putting the IV in, god he hated needles. Then the sheriff got a call so he was out in the hallway when the nurses came back to take Stiles back for his surgery, making the boy almost hysterical. No, no, no we have to wait for my dad. Why aren't we waiting for my dad? Please just wait… But the worst was when they went to put him under. One word: anaphylaxis…

Scott laid in bed looking at his clock, watching the red digits intently, waiting for the time to change. God why does time take so long when you watch it? Scott had been rolling around his bed and looking at the demon clock since 3:07A.M. It was like his body jolted awake at the time his best friend was supposed to go to sleep (a forced sleep). He tried everything to go back to sleep. He almost succeeded around 4:30 but then his almost closed eyes caught the image of him and Stiles in their lacrosse uniforms at their first game (the picture hanging on his wall). Damn.

Finally at 5:15, Scott couldn't take it anymore. He jumped out of bed, took a shower, put on clean clothes, brushed his teeth, put his bag together, put shoes on, and trotted down stairs in a weirdly fast time. He'd never gotten ready that quickly. When he tripped down the stairs he saw his mom standing in the kitchen with her scrubs on. "Mom! Hey I know we said 6:30 but do you think that…" He was cut off by a stern look and wrist snap, holding her hand up. "Mom…"

Melissa turned her body away from Scott as she continued to talk on the phone. "Okay, well Scott just woke up so we will be there soon. God, do you know how rare this is?" She laughed quietly. "I bet if Stiles was awake he could give us the statistics. Listen, it will okay. Stiles will be okay. And we will be there as soon as we can, I promise. Alright, see you soon." Melissa hung up and took a deep breath to prepare herself to face her son.

Before Melissa could even turn all the way around Scott was right on her. "What's wrong? Is Stiles okay? Did everything go okay with the surgery?" Words spilled out of his mouth so quick he felt like he was the hyper, well informed, ADHD best friend. "Mom what's going on?!"

With a deep breath and years of practice calming down distraught family members, Melissa led her son to sit at the table. "Calm down Scott." She waited for Scott to take a few breaths. "Stiles is fine. It seems that Stiles is allergic to aesthesia. When they put him under for the procedure he had a bad reaction. He was so upset before the procedure it took them a while to notice what was happening, which made it worse. They had to inject him with epinephrine. He's still resting, but he's going to be okay. He just might be pretty out of it for a while."

Scott stared at his mom with wide eyes. "What?" He wished Stiles was here to dumb down everything his mom just said but he wasn't, no, Stiles was in the hospital with something wrong with him. He was in the worst place for Stiles to ever be. Plus, his mom just said they injected him with something. Stiles hates needles! The kid almost passed out when the two went to get their shots together a few years ago. "Can I go see him?"

"Yes, you can see him for a little bit. But I doubt he will be awake." Melissa ran a hand through her son's hair hoping to calm him.

Scott crossed his arms over his chest. "I want to stay until he wakes up. Stiles hates hospitals Mom. He's going to freak out when he wakes up. I should be there. It's bad enough you guys wouldn't let me be there before he had the surgery. I bet that's why he had all this bad luck." Scott grumbled.

Melissa tried to remain calm and collected. "Scott, you have school. We've discussed this. You are going to school. I'll pick you up right as the bell rings and you can stay with Stiles until visiting hours are over."

"He's staying the night?!" Scott couldn't image the horror Stiles was going to feel when he discovered this. It was like they were punishing him for being allergic.

"Yes, that's why we have to stop by the Stilinski house to get Stiles' pillow, so he can sleep there."

At least they were going to let him have his pillow, but still, this was bad. "Mom, you can't let them do that! Stiles hates hospitals!" Scott wondered for a minute if there was a way he could sneak Stiles out of the hospital but realized it would be impossible without Stiles there, fully capable, to help him. His plans never worked without Stiles.

"Scott, calm down. If you can't keep a level head then you aren't going to see Stiles at all." That shut the kid up real fast. "Now grab something to eat and we can go see him. And remember, you are going to school today Scott. There's no getting out of that."

The hospital wasn't so bad to Scott. He had spent a lot of time here. Between his mom working here and his asthma, Scott saw the hospital as something different than what most people did. As long as he stayed away from the 'darkwing', the hallway where Stiles' mom…well you know. He didn't smell nothing but sterile and plastic. No, Scott smelt the people. He could smell the flowers people brought in as a 'get well'. He didn't see the morgue signs or the tragedy. He saw the maternity signs and the miracles. A long time ago his mom taught him to focus on the good. But today all Scott could think about was Stiles and how awful this must be to him. Stiles was the one who sat by the bedside, not the one who laid in the bed in pain. Scott needed to fix this somehow.

Walking into the room was almost surreal. The sheriff sat in a chair by the bed, reading through some folder and stapled papers with a worried look on his face and dark circles under his eyes. Just that sight alone would be enough to make Stiles upset (Scott couldn't let Stiles see that). Scott's eyes went to the bed, hating what he saw. Stiles looked so small lying in the hospital bed. He was hooked to an IV (jeez, I bet that was a fight to get in), a heart monitor, and a breathing tube. Scott had never seen Stiles like this and he never wanted to.

Scott walked to the side of the bed and took Stiles hand in his, grateful for the warmth he felt when he feared he'd feel cold. "Hey Stiles, I'm here buddy." He smiled.

"He's okay Scott. Really if there's any good place to have a severe allergic reaction it's in a hospital. I mean they had everything they needed right there." Sheriff tried to lighten the mood like Stiles would if he had been awake. "They'll remove the breathing tube soon. It was just something to help him breath during the initial reaction. The drugs are doing their job though, Scott. He's going to be fine." The sheriff kept repeating himself, almost like he was reassuring himself as much as he was Scott.

The boy just nodded, looking at his friend. "What's that?" Scott noticed a rash on Stiles skin now that he was closer.

Melissa looked over at the boy from where she stood (by the sheriff looking at the folder the sheriff had previously been looking at). "That's just a rash Scott. It's normal from an allergic reaction. It will go away. Like the sheriff said, he's going to be fine. Stilinski, who was your doctor…"

Scott sat on the side of the bed as the two adults began some conversation. Scott didn't care. He just wanted Stiles to wake up while he was there. Maybe if the boy in the hospital bed said that he wanted Scott there the two dumb adults couldn't refuse him. Scott prayed that was the case.

But time betrayed him again. The clock that had once ticked too slowly was now ticking too fast. Before Scott knew it his mom was telling him it was time to go to school and Stiles had yet to wake up. "But mom, Stiles hasn't woken up yet." Scott looked at her with pleading eyes.

The sheriff smiled at him. "Come on Scott, we talked about this. One of you has to be there to take notes. If you're both gone then who else is going to help you two catch up?"

"Stiles says Lydia takes amazing notes." Scott grumbled half under his breath.

The sheriff laughed. "I'm sure he says Lydia Martin does a lot of things amazingly. That doesn't change the fact that at least one of you need to be in class today. How about I call you when he wakes up? Then you can talk to him if he feels up to it. And you get to see him as soon as you're out of school."

Scott shrugged as his mom dragged him out of the room. "I'll be back, Stiles." He looked at his friend, trying to pull from Stiles' energy to come up with a plan…

Half way through first period, while Scott watched Lydia as Stiles would be doing, he came up with a plan. There was one way for Scott to get to the hospital. One perfect guaranteed way. And next period was P.E. which was just wonderful…

As the class started their laps around the gym as a warm-up as they always did Scott smiled. His plan was just too easy. He ran in front of everyone unlike his usual self. Stiles and he usually ran in the back of the group, barely jogging. But Scott went all out. And just before he gave himself a real asthma attack he doubled over breathing heavy. He looked up at the teacher with a panicked expression. The teacher wasted no time getting him to the nurse who called his mom. For some reason the inhaler just wasn't working. And because it was faster last time, Melissa agreed to pick Scott up and drive him to the hospital herself…plan achieved.

"It's okay, we're almost there. Just try to breathe Scott, just breathe." Melissa said as she rubbed her son's back and she drove too fast to hospital. But when she pulled her car to a stop outside the hospital she didn't even get to reach Scott's door when it flung open and he ran out. "Scott!" After momentary shock she ran after him. "Scott!" Scott smiled as he ignored his mother's calls and ran down the hallways he knew too well. He made it to Stiles floor and ran into the room.

As by fate, Stiles was coming to just seconds before Scott rounded the corner to his room. "Stiles!" Scott cheered seeing fluttering eyes. "Hey, buddy, dude, it's alright." He took a breath with his inhaler before taking one of Stiles' shaking hands. The boy in the bed looked around franticly, in an obvious state of panic, and started to breath funny. The machines by his bed were beeping much faster, his heart rate and blood pressure going up. "You're okay Stiles. Your dad is here, my mom is here, and I'm here. You're fine." He smiled and sat on the bed. "And my plan worked this time."

Stiles brought his eyebrows together in confusion but his panic seemed to have subsided. His breathing tube was gone but his voice came out scratchy. "What are you talking about?" The sight of his best friend distracted him from being in the worst place possible and the aching feeling all over his body. "What happened? Why are you breathing so hard? Why am I so sore? Wait, what plan?"

"Scott McCall!" Melissa stormed into the room and Scott's smile dropped. "Did you just fake an asthma attack?!"

Scott sheepishly turned to his mother. "Yes. But to be fair I did it for a good cause. I mean, look at Stiles! The poor kid almost died this morning!"
"What?! I almost died?!" Stiles tried to sit up but the sheriff stopped him.

The sheriff shook his head trying very hard not to laugh at the situation. "No, you didn't almost die. Scott stopped being so dramatic. You had an allergic reaction to the aesthesia. And you really shouldn't be talking. You still had your tonsils removed. Just take it easy. I'm going to go get your doctor." With that the sheriff left the boys to Melissa's mercy.

Before Melissa could start her rant or release her fury Stiles looked up at her, causing her whole stance to soften. "How are you feeling Stiles?"

"Better with Scott here." He gave the best puppy eyes he could muster, even if Scott was much better at it than he was. "Please don't make him leave. I hate this place." Stiles didn't want to talk anymore, which was a first, but he needed to defend his friend. "Imagine how upset I would have been if I woke up without him here."

Giving in, Melissa sank into the chair by the bed. "Fine, you can stay. But you will be punished for using your asthma, young man. That's so not okay." She took a breath. "I'm just glad you're both okay."

Scott smiled at his mom and then at Stiles. "Yeah, me too."

That night, because Stiles had to stay the night, Scott managed to escape the nurses who tried to force him out and snuck up to Stiles' bedside as the sheriff slept in the chair nearby. "Hey, I bet I have another hour maybe two if I can hear them coming and find a place to hide in time." Scott looked around the room for possible hiding spots.

Stiles smiled. "Good. I hate this place." He tried to keep his eyes open.

Scott sat on the bottom of the bed. "Yeah, I figured you would be one of the people allergic to this place." He laughed.

"5,000 in every 25,000 anesthetics with a 3.4% mortality rate; I'm a rarity." Stiles gave a sleepy smile. "My throat hurts." He squirmed in the bed.

"I could go try to find you some ice cream."

Before Scott could get off the bed Stiles' hand shot out and grabbed ahold of a wrist. "No, don't go." He didn't mean to sound desperate but he didn't want to be alone here. Sure his dad was here, but he was asleep. And this place… "I'm fine." Stiles smiled.

Scott nodded knowingly. "Well, I could hide under that sink and you could hit the call button and have the nurse bring you a smoothie, their supposed to feel better than some of the other stuff. I bet that would put their search on a rest too."

"Look at you, full of plans today." Stiles smiled as Scott went over to sink.

"Guy's gotta do something when you take his best friend from him."

Stiles laughed as much as he could. "Do you mean when you take his brain from him?" He joked as they had often stated that Stiles was Scott's brain, and Scott was Stiles' conscience. It's why they worked so well.

Scott smiled as he huddled under the sink. "Exactly. Maybe we have some psychic connection though. Think about it." He remarked as Stiles was trying to laugh at him again. "How else would I be able to escape school to your bedside if I didn't have some connection to your brainwaves?"

"I don't know. But I'm happy you did." Stiles hit the call button.

"Me too."

For the second time that day one of Scott's plans worked and the two boys ate ice cream and shared a smoothie while they watched late night TV and Scott did the talking for once, keeping Stiles distracted. Somehow, even with where they were, the boys fell asleep smiling with Stiles clasping onto the bottom of Scott's shirt for comfort.

/There's another longer chapter, I hope that's okay. It was also a requested idea so I hope I did it justice (let me know, you know who you are). So yeah thank you so much for reading my story you guys (and an even bigger thanks to those who have reviewed or messaged me), please review and comment, and have a glorious day my darlings! :)