Emily was woken by her phone ringing on her nightstand. She glanced at the clock and groaned when it flashed how late it was. She snatched her phone and glanced at the name.
Stiles
Her brows furrowed in confusion when she saw it was him. She had no idea why he would be calling so late. Unless…
"Hey, Stiles-" she answered but was quickly cut off.
"Emily? Em, I need your help. Please" he cried in a broken whisper. She shot up in bed when she heard his voice. He sounded like he was crying and utterly terrifying. It literally broke her heart.
"Stiles! Stiles where are you?" she asked desperately. Emily was on her feet in a moment as she grabbed her jacket and shoes.
"I don't know" he whispered. "Call Scott, he knows everything. Please, I'm so cold."
"Alright, Stiles. I'm coming. Do you hear me?! I'm coming for you!" she soothed as a tear slipped from her eye.
"Emmy…" he said brokenly. Her heart shattered when she heard the nickname. "Hurry."
XXXXX
Emily appeared in Scott's room right in front of him and Isaac. They both jumped out of their skin when they saw her silver eyes flash back to normal. She looked back and forth between the two urgently.
"Emily, what the fu-" Isaac said as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Where is he?" she asked, not even bothering to apologize for scaring them. Scott's eyes turned sad as he went back to grabbing his stuff.
"We don't know" he mumbled.
"What do you mean you don't know?!" She yelled as she grabbed his collar and pushed him against the wall.
He easily grabbed her wrists and flipped their positions. He pushed her arms against the wall and held them there. She looked at him with wild eyes as he leaned closer to her. Isaac stood to the side and watched with an amused grin.
"Knock it off, Emily. We don't know where he is. But we're going to find him" he commanded.
"We have to" she whispered. She looked down only to have Scott lift her chin with his hand.
"Hey, we will" he told her sincerely. He suddenly pulled away as his phone rang.
"Stiles?!" he asked frantically. He put it on speaker so the others could hear.
"Scott?" Stiles asked as his voice cracked. "Scott, I called Emily."
"I'm here, Stiles! I'm right here" Emily said as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Stiles, can you tell where you are?" Scott asked. There was a pause before Stiles responded.
"It's a basement" he said with a quivering voice. "I think it's some kind of basement."
"Okay, like in a house or a building or something?" Scott asked.
"Y-yeah. It's something industrial. It's bigger. I think I can see a furnace, but it's s-so cold. It-it's freezing down here" he said. They could hear his voice crack and quiver. Emily closed her eyes and braced herself for what he was saying. "I-I gotta turn…I gotta turn the phone off. It-It's gonna die."
"Wait! Stiles don't hang up! Do you see anything else?" Emily shouted into the phone.
"I'm sorry. The p-phone's dying. I can't talk, I've got to go. Please" Stiles said, the last word coming out as a whisper.
"Stiles, why are you whispering?" Scott asked in confusion. There was a pause before Stiles spoke again as he began to cry.
"Because I think there's someone in here with me."
Emily turned away from the boys. It was too much. He sounded almost childlike because he was so scared. And there was nothing she could do to help him.
"Please, find me" he whispered before the line went dead.
XXXXX
Isaac and Scott went to Stiles house to try to pick up his scent. Emily decided to go on her own and see if she could sense him with her powers. She closed her eyes and willed her powers to take her to the place where she felt the strongest connection to Stiles.
When she opened her eyes again, she looked around in utter confusion. She was in the middle of the woods. She slammed her fists against a nearby tree and fell to her knees. This wasn't right. He said he was in a basement, but her powers took her to the forest. She thought her powers were back on track, but apparently she was wrong.
As she looked around, she noticed something vaguely familiar about the place. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what happened to her here.
It was the night Cora and Boyd escaped from the vault, after Derek struck her. She saw his warm eyes, so full of caring and completely without pity.
"Why do you care so much? I can walk home. Really, it's no trouble" she said.
"Trust me. I know how it feels to be underestimated. It royally sucks. But sometimes, all you need is a friend who understands." He said with a small smile.
She was thrown back into the present as she realized where she was. She finally understood why her powers took her there. It was one of the beginning moments when everything began to change.
Emily closed her eyes and focused her powers. She felt a light wind start to circle her as her power coursed through her veins. When she opened her eyes again, they blazed silver.
She knew where he was.
Then, she disappeared.
XXXXX
Emily stood in the bright hospital hallway with Scott, Lydia, Melissa, and Agent McCall. She was pacing nervously. They hadn't heard anything about Stiles in about an hour.
"Will you knock it off? We'll find something out soon" Scott told her.
"In the meantime, you can tell us just how you knew where Stiles was" Agent McCall said. Emily looked nervously up at the incredibly tall man. She glanced at to Scott but he just shrugged, unsure of what to tell his father. "How could you possibly know that he was in that den? I had to rack my brain to think of where he could be. How did you just happen to figure it out before me?"
Emily looked off into the distance as she remembered the horrifying scene. Her heart began to break all over again.
Emily ran as hard and fast as she could through the woods. She knew she was close and she wasn't wasting any time. She winced as branches snapped back at her faces and cut her arms, but she didn't care. Even when she felt some start to bleed, she didn't dare slow down.
When she got to the den, she heard crying from the inside. Suddenly, she heard a blood curdling scream, and she knew it was coming from Stiles. She slid down the hill to him and ducked inside.
"Stiles!" she yelled as he continued to scream.
She pulled him to her as he tried to wither out of her grip. His body was thrashing so violently that she was crushed against one of the rock walls. She gritted her teeth in pain as she wrapped her arms around him. He clung tightly to her as his fingers created bruises from holding so hard. He was trapped in a state of utter terror. Emily held her hand to his cheek and allowed a pulse of power to radiate through him. He instantly began to quiet, but silent sobs still shuddered from him. Emily pulled out her phone and called Melissa and told her to come as fast as she could.
While they waited for Melissa and Agent McCall, Emily held Stiles as tightly as she could. His quivering body clung to her as if she was the last ray of hope he could grasp.
"Well, I…" Emily began just before the sheriff walked up. When he stood before them, she redirected her attention to him. "How is he?! Is he okay?"
"He's sleeping now. He's fine. He doesn't remember much. It's like a bad dream to him" the sheriff said with a disheartened expression. Emily felt the pit in her stomach grow even more.
"Well…thank goodness Agent McCall realized where Stiles was, right Agent?" Emily said as she eyed Scott's dad. He looked at her in confusion as she glared at him.
"Just go with it" she mouthed at him as realization dawned upon him. She hoped that this would stop the questioning from him and he'd just let it go.
"Right, thank you" the sheriff said to Agent Asshole.
"It, uh, it was just that repellent we sprayed in the coyote den to keep the other animals out. I couldn't go near it without my eyes watering. It's just a good thing he mentioned it on the phone" Scott's dad mumbled. Though everything he said was true, the fact that he found Stiles first was a complete lie.
"No, it was more than that. Thank you" the sheriff tried again.
"It was just a lucky connection" Agent McCall deflected.
"McCall, can you just shut up and accept my sincerest gratitude?" Sheriff asked as annoyance colored his tone. He stuck out his hand and Agent McCall grasped it tightly.
"Accepted" Agent McCall said, with a slightly guilt-filled expression. He glanced at Emily who just rolled her eyes at him.
"Alright you three have school in less than 6 hours. Go home" Melissa said as she gave Scott a hug. Then she specifically directed her attention to Emily "Go to sleep."
"I'm actually just going to stay here" Emily said. The sheriff shook his head as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You really should go home, hun. There's nothing here right now." She looked up at him with a determined look.
"No. There's nothing at my house. My family is here." His expression softened as he nodded and led her back to Stiles' room.
XXXXX
The sheriff and Emily had been sitting at Stiles' bedside for about five hours, and he was still sound asleep. Emily kept dozing off before jerking awake a few minutes later.
"You know, you don't have to stay awake this whole time" the sheriff told her but she shook her head.
"I want to be awake when he wakes up." He gave her a sad smile.
"You really care about my son, don't you" he asked.
"I really do. He's pretty special" she said as she smiled down at her and Stiles' hands clenched together.
"It was you who found him last night, wasn't it?" She looked up at him in alarm as she realized he knew the truth. She nodded and looked back down at Stiles.
"But in his defense, Agent McCall did figure it out. I just beat him to it."
"Why did you give him the credit?" he asked. She looked back up at the sheriff with a sad smile.
"Because Stiles told me about why you have such a problem with each other. I was just trying to diffuse the tension" she whispered. The sheriff looked at her in surprise. "Don't worry. I won't say anything."
He nodded before getting up and walking around the bed.
"I'm going to go get a coffee" he said. He walked to her side and planted a light kiss on the top of her head before leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Thank you. For everything."
With that, he left the room. Emily couldn't help but smile. It had been so long since she was given a fatherly gesture. But her smile faded as she looked back down at Stiles' sleeping form.
"Oh Stiles, how did we get back here?" she whispered as she brushed his hair back.
At her touch, he began to stir. His eye lids fluttered open as he caught her hand and brought it to his lips. He smiled up at her as she sat on the edge of his bed.
"You're still here" he croaked. She reached over and grabbed a cup of water.
"I never left."
"Em, I'm so scared" he said as his voice broke. Emily was hit by his fear, but she quickly put the block around her mind. "What if I had what she had?"
"Whatever it is, we'll get you through it. I promise" she said as she blinked to get rid of the tears forming in her eyes.
"You found me last night" he whispered and she nodded. "I knew you would."
"I'm just glad I could." Emily leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Suddenly there was movement at the door and the sheriff stood awkwardly in the frame.
"Hey kiddo, I see you're up" he said as Emily quickly hopped off the bed.
"Yo, Dad. So what's the word?" he asked nervously.
"Well, we're not sure yet. The doctors want to do some tests in a bit." Stiles' eyes widened in alarm as he started to sweat slightly. "Don't worry, we'll be here the entire time. Honestly I don't think I could pry Emily away from you with a crow bar."
Stiles couldn't help but smile as he squeezed Emily's hand. She smiled back down at him and squeezed back.
XXXXX
Emily and Scott stood in front of Stiles as he sat on a table connected to the MRI machine. Emily was holding his hand tight and rested her head on his shoulder. They watched as the technician talked to the sheriff.
"I'm not sure I know how to pronounce this…" he said.
"Just call him Stiles" the sheriff sighed. The technician nodded before addressing Stiles.
"Stiles, just to warn you, you're going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI. It's due to the pulses of electricity going through the metal coils inside the machine. If you want, we can get you some earplugs or headphones" he offered.
"Oh, no. No I don't need anything" he said polietly. The sheriff patted his son on the shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.
"Hey, we'll be right on the other side of that window, okay?" Stiles nodded and gave his dad a quick hug.
The three friends watched as the sheriff and Melissa walked through the door with the technician. When the door clicked, they all looked back at each other.
"You know what they're looking for, right? It's called fronto-temporal dementia" Stiles told them with a quivering voice. "Areas of your brain start to shrink. It's what my mother had. It's the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers."
He looked down at his lap as his eyes started to tear up. Emily could feel her heart shatter at how broken he looked.
"There's no cure." Emily lifted his chin with her finger and looked into his eyes.
"Hey, we'd find one" she whispered as she glanced at Scott. He nodded at Stiles.
"That's right" he said. "If you have it, Stiles, we'll do something. I'll do something."
Stiles looked up at his friend's determinated face. He smiled sadly as he pulled Scott into a tight hug. For a long moment, the brothers held each other tight. Emily watched as the tears fell from Stiles' eyes. When they pulled apart, Scott patted Stiles' shoulder and walked out the door.
Emily and Stiles looked at each other for a second before Stiles pulled her to him. He clung to her desperately. She could feel his body shake slightly. She pulled back and he looked at her in confusion. But then she took another step forward and held his face in her hands with a gentle grip. She feathered her fingers across his cheeks to wipe away the tears.
Gently, she pressed a kiss to his lips. It was fragile and soft, but so filled with love. They pulled away and pressed their foreheads against one another. She looked into his eyes and could have sworn she saw a flicker of something. But as soon as she saw it, it was gone.
"I love you" she whispered.
"I love you too, Em."
XXXXX
Emily sat on the hallway floor with her knees pulled tight to her chest. She had her face buried in her knees as they waited for any news. Scott had gone out to sit in the waiting room when Derek arrived. Emily couldn't keep her mind from wandering as her memories floated in and out of her mind.
Stiles and Emily were lying on the floor in his bedroom. They were laughing and smiling at one another. It was the night she had come back after what Deucalion had done to her.
"If you ever do that to me again, I don't know what I would do."
"Why? Because you freaking love me?" she asked with a smile. His eyes widened for a second before he returned her smirk.
"Yeah. I freaking do." He looked deep into her eyes before pulling her chin up and planting a heated kiss on her lips. For the first time, Emily felt as though she could give into her feelings, so she returned the kiss.
She smiled at the memory. It was the first time they had a real kiss. The moment was so perfect in its own quirky, goofy way. Then, another memory invaded her mind.
They were in the locker room as the sun shone lightly through the window. Emily was extremely upset at just seeing Stiles and Lydia kiss.
"Just – just tell me that that kiss didn't mean anything to you. That you didn't feel anything when she kissed you" Emily pled with sorrow in her voice.
Stiles looked down at her desperately and closed the distance between them. He grabbed her around the waist and pushed her against the wall. He bent down and pressed his lips to Emily's with such passion that she dropped her bag and threw her arms around his neck. She deepened the kiss and his hands went to gently cup her face. When they pulled apart, they were gasping for breath and gave each other a smile.
"Okay, that makes me really believe you" she said with a small giggle.
"I love you, Emily. No one else."
Emily was yanked out of the memory when she heard the door open and saw a figure appear. She looked up and saw the sheriff's strained face. She was on her feet in a minute as she looked up at him. He didn't have to even say a word – his eyes said it all.
"No" she barely got out before she buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her in a loving manner as she allowed every emotion she was feeling to flood through her. She let down the block and was hit by the pain and heartbreak that was radiating off of the sheriff.
Emily continued to cry until there were no tears left and she hiccupped herself quiet. She pulled away to see the sheriff silently crying.
"I will do something" she said as her voice cracked. "I swear to you, I will do something."
The sheriff seemed to understand the weight of her words. He nodded and pulled her in for one last squeeze. When she pulled away, she started to walk down the hall.
"I'll go tell Scott" she called from over her shoulder. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself as she made her way towards the waiting room.
She didn't get very far before Scott and Derek came running up to her.
"Emily, we have a problem" Scott said frantically. When they saw her face, they looked taken aback and concerned. "What's wrong?"
"We'll talk later. What's going on?" she asked, suddenly on guard.
In the blink of an eye, the power went out all through the hospital. The lights began to flicker and screams echoed through the hall. The scene looked all too familiar.
"Oh God" Emily muttered. "You two go figure out what's going on. I'll go get the others."
She took off running towards the MRI room, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Stiles standing before her. His fists were clenched and his eyes looked dark.
"S-Stiles?" she asked. There was something wrong. There was an evil presence radiating from him. It was like something had him in its grasp. There was a dark energy all around him. She could see it.
"Stiles isn't here at the moment. But it took you long enough, Emily. We had expected you to figure it out a lot sooner. We suppose we're a better trickster than we realized. But we obviously gave you too much credit."
She listened close to his words. His voice was off – it wasn't his own. There was something vicious about it. Before she could react, Stiles closed the distance between them and thrust her up the wall by her throat. Her toes couldn't even touch the ground as she thrashed in his grasp.
Spots started to color her vision as she looked down at him in betrayal. She heard his last words right before her world faded to black.
"We guess we'll have to be more careful around you. Because you know, you never quite can trust a fox."