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The New Norm-Chapter 2 (Sound Advice from an Unlikely Source)

Scott knows that Mr. Stilinski will tell him what Dr. Russo says as soon as he's done with the doctor. But, he can't wait anymore. He feels like that's all he's been doing as of late. He waited helplessly as he watched on in despair as Deaton and then Isaac attempted to revive Stiles after the sacrifice. He waited for what felt like endless hours in the hospital waiting room to hear how Stiles was after they found their parents. The waiting game continued as Stiles battled against a case of raging pneumonia, courtesy of nearly drowning. And now he's waiting to hear what effects the loss of oxygen had on his best friend. What damage has been done.

The young werewolf already has a sinking suspicion that something is majorly wrong. He might not be the best student but he's smart enough to know that things are not as they should be with Stiles. He was there when his friend was finally lucid enough to acknowledge his visitors who have stayed vigil at his bedside for over a week. He recalls how his mother ushered him out of the room when Stiles literally fumbled with his own words when he tried to talk for the first time since waking up. He was there when Stiles struggled with the simplest things such as holding a cup of water and moving his bed to a more comfortable position. He knows there's something wrong. He just hasn't heard the actual words….yet.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Allison asks from beside him.

Scott nods his head, "Shhhh," as he zones in on what is being said inside the doctor's office.

Most of the brain damage afflicted is common with near drowning victims….speaking center of the brain…short term memory loss which your son has illustrated by not recognizing people that he has met within the last year…voluntary moments….

No, no, no! This can't be right. Brain damage?! Scott can feel his wolf coming on. Sensing her boyfriend's despair, Allison puts her arm around his shoulder. "Hey, hey. What are they saying? Scott? Scott?! Talk to me."

Wolfing out in the hospital is definitely not going to help matters or Stiles or the sheriff. And the sheriff has enough on his plate right now. "The doctor is saying that there's brain damage. That's why Stiles didn't recognize Cora or the twins, why he's talking the way he is, why he can't even hold a damn cup," Scott bites back as he tries to reign in his anger.

With therapy your son should make progress…other than this his body is young and strong…the fact that he was able to fight off that pneumonia in my opinion proves that your son is a fighter…I believe that he can fight this too.

Allison's voice breaks Scott away from Dr. Russo's platitudes. "Oh, damn." She squeezes Scott tight and the werewolf leans in taking comfort in her embrace. "Well, now that we know the damage, we can come up with a plan. I mean, Stiles is young and healthy. The brain can adapt. Lydia can do some research. We'll get Stiles through this."

Scott nods his head, numbly. This is why he loves Allison. How she can take charge of a situation. But, he's not entirely sure how he feels about the redhead at the moment. "Lydia? Can she handle it? I mean she has only seen him when he was either unconscious or sleeping. Is she really going to help us help Stiles?" He knows that he sounds harsh but he can't help it. This is his best friend and he has always been there for Lydia, but she has been basically been MIA since Stiles regained consciousness.

Allison moves so that she's now facing her boyfriend. "Come on, Scott. That's not fair. You know she's been beating herself up over this. She was the one who held him under. She says she doesn't blame herself, but I know she does. This isn't easy for her."

"Easy for her?!" Scott hisses. People in the hospital corridor look at him after his outburst in confusion. He lowers his voice, "You think this is easy for me, Allison?! You think that it's easy seeing my best friend fight to say something simple like my name when speaking has always been second nature for him? You think that it's easy for me to watch my mom and Mr. Stilinski feed Stiles because he can't do it himself?!"

He can feel strangers' eyes on him and hear their whispered mutterings, wondering what was going on.

"Shhh, Scott. I know you're upset. But, everyone can hear you," Allison hisses back.

"I don't care if everyone can hear me," Scott bites. "I don't care-"But, he stops himself when he notices that Allison isn't really looking at him, she's looking over his shoulder at something or someone behind him. Shit.

The clearing of a throat prompts him to turn around to see the face of Sheriff Stilinski. "Hi, Sheriff. I um, didn't see you there."

The sheriff nods his head.

"You didn't need to hear that." Scott admits.

The sheriff puts his hand on the werewolf's shoulder. "It's okay, Scott. It's nothing that I'm not thinking myself."

The three of them stand there for a minute in awkward silence in the busy hospital hallway. The sheriff looks around first before he leans in towards Scott. "Both your parents filled me in about werewolves when we were in the root cellar," he says as he glances at Allison. "They told me about the bite. What it does."

Scott raises his eyebrow in question.

"I want you to give Stiles the bite," the sheriff clarifies.

Scott looks at Allison for help. She gives him a small, reassuring smile.

"He was asked before and he didn't want it," Scott tries to explain.

Mr. Stilinski shakes his head, "That was before. The bite should fix him, right? I mean you used to have asthma and now look at you. You're starting on the front line.'

"Yeah, I know. But, I don't know if it will work this time. I mean…"

"John?" The three turn to see Scott's mom standing in the hall. Oh thank god for his mother.

"Hi, Melissa. What's going on? Is Stiles okay?" The older man asks with a hint of panic in his voice. The last five days have been rough, well even rougher. And it's beginning to affect all of them. If recovering from nearly drowning wasn't enough for Stiles, a monstrous case of pneumonia was added. The reason why Dr. Russo was just now letting the sheriff know the extent of the damage done to Stiles was because the neuro consult had to wait until the anti-biotics finally took. What good is a neurological consult if Stiles wasn't alive.

She gives him a small smile "Stiles is fine, John. He just woke up, was asking for you."

"Probably looking for some half way decent food. No offense, Melissa, he's been complaining about the cafeteria's food ever since he woke up."

Scott looks down when the sheriff mentions Stiles waking up. For anything, Scott wishes that was the case. Waking up sounds so much better than regaining consciousness. It sounds so much more positive than what really happened when they all waited helplessly for Stiles to regain consciousness in the hospital after Deaton rushed him there after Isaac finally felt a pulse after several rounds of CPR.

Then again with all the bad that has happened to them as of late, Scott can fully understand why Mr. Stilinski would refer to Stiles regaining consciousness in a more positive way and not in the much darker way that it truly was. His mother's patient tone brings him back to the difficult conversation that his mother just interrupted.

"Believe me, no offense taken," Melissa replies.

The sheriff turns back to the two teenagers, "We're not discussing this. We're going to finish this conversation later, got it?"

Scott nods his head. As they watch the sheriff make his way down the hall and to his son, Allison turns to Scott. "What are you going to do? Are you actually going to go through with it? Are you actually going to bite Stiles?"

"I don't know…I don't know." Scott says.

"You have to do something. I mean, Stiles' dad is not going to just give up. Now when it comes to the well being of his kid."

"I know that," Scott replies.

Allison bites her lip, "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to just do it. I need to get some advice first."

Allison looks at him in question.

"I'm going to go talk to Derek."

XXXXX

Scott doesn't even bother knocking as he lets himself into Derek's place.

"I could have killed you. I mean you're smelling worse than usual. I could smell you five miles out," Derek greets, face set in his typical scowl.

Scott clenches his fists at his sides. He didn't come here to deal with the older werewolf's crap. He came here with a mission in mind. "Yeah, well I haven't exactly been home as of late to shower. Been spending a lot of time at the hospital, you know being there for Stiles. You know my best friend, who almost died because your latest, psychotic girlfriend took his dad along with my mom and my girlfriend's father to be used in a ritual sacrifice," Scott growls.

Whether it's mentioning Stiles or Jennifer taking the teenagers' parents or something else, Derek's facial expression softens. "How is Stiles?"

Scott shakes his head signaling 'not good.' It's going to be hard to say just how bad Stiles is. If he says it, it makes it real.

Derek nods his head. "Yeah, Cora told me that Stiles didn't even recognize her when she visited him the other day," he explains in a soft tone.

Scott rubs his left eye with the palm of his head, "That's part of the….damage,"

"Damage? What kind of damage?" Derek asks for clarification.

Scott can feel the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He can't cry, not in front of Derek. Man, what would Stiles think if he saw him crying in front of the former alpha? He would probably call him a pussy. Collecting himself he begins to tell Derek what his mother explained to him, Isaac, and Allison before Scott came over here.

"I guess when a person drowns certain parts of their brain begins to die. Stiles was…was under too long. The part that controls speech, movement, and memory was affected."

Derek nods his head silently, as he takes in what the young werewolf has said.

"I guess the fact that Stiles is actually breathing on his own is a miracle in itself. My mom told me that many near drowning victims' breathing is affected," Scott stops again, wiping his eyes. "Guess that's something, right?"

The two stand there for a minute, silently. Derek not really knowing what to say. Scott, regaining his composure before he continues.

"I…I…uh…came here to ask you something," Scott breaks the silence.

"What?" Derek asks.

"The sheriff wants me to give Stiles the bite," Scott rushes out. "I don't know what to do. Should I do it?"

Derek wasn't expecting this. He thought that Scott came looking for a fight, blame him for what happened to Stiles. He didn't think that Scott would come here looking for advice of what to do. Hell, Derek isn't even an alpha anymore and when he was he was a crappy one at that. "I don't know why you're asking me?"

"You bit Isaac and Erica to save them. Should I do it to save Stiles?"

"Isaac needed it to feel in control again. Erica had the seizures," Derek tries to explain.

"Stiles already had two seizures," Scott says with a bit of hope in his voice as if that in itself was a reason to bite Stiles. "I mean it cured my asthma. Maybe it can fix Stiles too?" Scott says, looking at Derek were confirmation…vindication….something.

Derek shakes his head. "Yeah, but-"

"He wouldn't want it," comes a strong voice from the doorway.

Scott and Derek turns to see Peter walking in.

"That was before. Who knows what Stiles wants now? He can't even tell us. His father-"

"Is a desperate man looking for any means no matter how small to fix his only son," Peter cuts in. he turns to Derek as he says, "And we all know that not everyone takes to the bite."

Derek looks down when he hear his uncle's words.

"He could come out just fine," Scott rebuts.

"Yeah or he could die! I heard that he has pneumonia. Cora told us about the fever, the hallucinations. How the doctors were just minutes away from putting him on a ventilator before his body finally responded to the meds. His body is still weak. He probably can't even physically take the bite. That's not even considering his mental/emotional state at the moment," Peter explains.

"Let me ask you a question. Do you want to risk killing your best friend? Or would you rather have Stiles around….even if he's a little broken," Derek finally adds in, looking Scott hard in the eye.

"Scott, he didn't want the bite before. Not when he saw his friend go from being an asthmatic benchwarmer to a starting player on the lacrosse team with a beautiful, but crazy huntress of a girlfriend. And he was left on the sidelines," Peter reasons. "Do you think that he would really want it now?"

Scott is biting his lip hard, taking in what Peter is saying.

"You know Stiles better than any of us. You know how strong he is. Do you think he would want this? To lose his humanity? To lose what makes him Stiles?"

Scott stands there thinking about what the werewolf just said and what Derek asked. He thinks about Stiles. He thinks about how Stiles has always been there for him. When his father left. When he was hit with a bad asthma attack. All those times when he has helped him with werewolf and Allison issues. He thinks about Stiles' relieved eyes when he finally woke up the first time struggling with his broken speech to ask Scott if his father, Allison, and the others were okay.

His decision was made.

I know no Stiles in this chapter, but don't worry he'll back in the next one. I hope you guys enjoyed the update. Let me know what you think. Also, I have some ideas for future chapters, but would like to know what you guys would like to see. Either let me know in a review or a PM. Thanks!

Chapter 3 Preview: We fast forward a bit. Lydia has not talked to Stiles about what happened and her role in it. She needs to get it off her chest. She figures there's no better way to do so than tell a sleeping Stiles.