Stiles went under. Or better, Derek carried his half-conscious ass into the lake where Stiles sank to the bottom like a rock. When the water made the first contact with his skin, he hissed in pain but that only lasted for a second and then he just fell into Derek's soothing arms.
Here nothing hurt. Here Stiles didn't have to think. A part of him was worried about Peter, he hadn't looked good and Talia hadn't been able to ease Stiles' worries but that too only lasted for a moment before it got swept away by the water.
When Stiles came up again, it was dark. He doubted that he'd lost much time but he couldn't tell if this was the next day or the one after that. Maybe it was Wednesday already.
He was still wearing the clothes he'd run into a burning building with. They were burned and ripped and reeking of smoke. On top of that, they were soaking wet which had turned the ash and smut into black goo.
Stiles stripped and piled his clothes next to the door, they were not salvageable. Then he went back into the lake to wash off the worst of the grime but his first stop today would be at John's for a long shower. Which wouldn't be that easy to do, Stiles realized.
His phone was dead and his jeep was most likely still stuck in the front door of the Hale house.
"Great, just fucking great," Stiles muttered to himself.
At least he had his laptop so he could check the date. Just past ten on Monday evening. He'd spent roughly twenty-four hours under. Not as bad as he'd feared. He would have stayed under for longer to heal up but he wanted to know how Peter was doing. He should be back to his old self by now but the wolfsbane poisoning might have slowed down the healing. Stiles didn't know how that would affect a werewolf's ability to heal but Talia had been worried which made him worried.
Since he had the laptop running, Stiles checked his emails. Without his phone that was the only way to contact him out here.
John had sent him an email this morning.
The house had mostly burned down but nobody had died. The human members of the pack had all been checked out and they had kept Christina overnight to make sure that the baby was alright. The others had minor injuries but they had been free to leave the hospital. They stayed with pack members living in town for now. John had deputies checking on them regularly.
Emily was still in the ICU but according to John, she was doing fine.
The one not doing fine was Peter.
He'd been in surgery all night where they had removed burned skin and flesh and whatever other stuff had melted into his wounds. John didn't go into detail here but Stiles was researching third-degree burns while he was reading the email. Most pictures weren't as bad as what he'd seen on Peter. Half of Peter's face had been gone and at least his left arm and his flank had been severely burned as well. If he weren't a werewolf, he would have died.
John's email was from the morning, almost twelve hours old, so Stiles hoped that it was old news by now. With this much time, Peter should be better.
John ended his report with a reminder that they would need his statement and that Parrish was eager to talk to him. About the fire and Derek. Apparently, Derek was still a suspect.
"What's his deal with Derek anyway?" Stiles shook his head.
He typed a quick answer, that he was topside now and would love a ride into town. He still wanted that shower and he wanted to know what had happened over the day. John had not mentioned the investigation. Did they have any suspects? Aside from Derek?
Stiles had seen Kate Argent fleeing the scene but he couldn't remember if he'd mentioned that to John. He doubted it. He'd been out of it yesterday and there had been more important things on his mind. So he added that information as well and sent the email out. Now he could only hope that John would read his mail soon.
While he waited for John to answer, Stiles browsed the internet for information on what had happened last night. The fire had been on the news and the pictures alone made him sick in the stomach. Stiles was reading a newspaper article while simultaneously watching a report from last night with the reporter in front of the on fire house. His car was still stuck in the door.
The reporter was saying something about that and that the same person had run back into the house to save two missing people.
"This brave act of heroism might have turned out to be a fatal mistake," the reporter said with a glance over his shoulder as if he expected for Stiles to emerge from the flames right on cue. Which of course didn't happen.
The man kept talking but Stiles tuned him out when he started to speculate about the reason behind the attack. The door had been blocked from the outside so it was obvious that this wasn't an accident but Stiles doubted that the reporter would come even close to the truth.
The article mentioned Stiles as well, not by name though, and it was more optimistic that he'd made it out alive because they also covered Peter and Emily. Not by name either and it only said that survivors had been found quite a distance from the house, which was an understatement, but it ended rather optimistic with the fact that the survivors were severely injured but stable.
Before Stiles could dive into this for real, there were already wild theories about the reasons behind this on the internet, he got an answer from John that he was on his way to pick him up.
"How's Peter?" Was Stiles' first question when he hopped into the sheriff's cruiser. "Did you make any arrests yet? Did I mention that I saw Kate Argent fleeing the scene? You should talk to her. What about Emily?"
"Hello to you too," John said, clearly amused. However, when he glanced over to Stiles, it was with worry in his eyes.
"You came up sooner than I expected," John said. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Stiles answered out of reflex but then he added: "Not quite back to one hundred percent and I can't stay for too long but I didn't want to miss too much. I'm worried about Peter."
"He's still in the hospital," John gave him an update. "They put him in one of those sterile rooms for burn victims. He's in a coma."
"What?" He must have heard that wrong. "He's a werewolf. How can a werewolf be in a coma?"
"The severe damage to his body combined with the wolfsbane poisoning. That stuff has burned its way down to the bone." John had the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip and Stiles could see his jaw working. "It's just too much. His healing abilities are keeping him alive but the actual healing is minimal at best. At least that's Talia's explanation."
"You talked to her?"
"She hasn't left the hospital since yesterday but they won't let her see Peter," John continued. "I took her statement and made her promise to let me do my job and to not do something drastic."
"And she listened?" Stiles had gotten a different impression on her from their first encounter. She was nobody to sit back and let others deal with her problems. With the exception of Peter, he was her left hand after all. But with him out of commission, she didn't have anybody to do the dirty work.
"She made it clear that she wants results." John nodded grimly. "Fast."
"Same."
Before he'd left the station to pick up Stiles, John had sent Parrish to pick up Kate Argent in hope that she would be waiting in an interrogation room for him by the time he came back in.
"You think she's still in Beacon Hills?"
"Most likely not but it's worth a shot."
John drove them over to his house where Stiles could have his shower and they would have a late dinner. John hadn't eaten much over the day either, too busy with the case. This was the biggest case Beacon Hills had seen in quite a while. The last one making headlines like this had been the drowning of four teenagers. Not that Stiles wanted to mention that case to John.
After a shower, some fresh clothes, and a sandwich which he washed down with a coffee, Stiles felt better. He had come up a bit early but the lingering ache in his bones was gone for now. He would have to return to the lake sooner than usual, though, he could feel it. Not that he would be able to do much in the middle of the night anyway. By now it was heading towards midnight.
So coffee was probably not the right thing right now, especially for John who had been on his feet basically since yesterday. Stiles didn't ask if he'd slept at all, he could see the answer all over John's face. And it looked like this would be a short night as well. John's phone ringed twice over dinner.
"You think I can see Peter?" Stiles asked when they were back in the car and on their way to the station.
"You should probably wait until morning," John reminded him. "He's in a coma but stable, you won't miss anything."
Coming from him Stiles believed it. Didn't mean he liked it.
"Talia wants to see you," John added.
"What does she want from me?" Stiles shrank into his seat. She'd been nice over dinner but he was not in the mood to face her again. Which he probably would have to anyway if he wanted to see Peter. Crap.
"Most likely she wants to thank you." John threw him a glance. "You saved her life. You saved her whole pack."
There was nothing Stiles could say to that. But he could already feel how awkward that conversation would turn out.
"Did Parrish get Kate Argent?" John asked Nancy as soon as he entered the station.
"No," she answered. "Her apartment was empty. Forensics are on it and the warrant is out. Parrish went to talk to the brother."
"Doubt he's going to tell him anything but it's worth a shot," John agreed.
"It was a waste of time." Parrish stormed in just in time to catch John's statment. "Argent told me to come back with a warrant and closed the door in my face."
Parrish didn't look as if he'd gotten much sleep either, there were bags under his eyes and now he looked as if he was ready to punch somebody. He washed a hand down his face but then his eyes fell on Stiles.
"Shouldn't you rest?" He wondered. Narrowing his eyes, Parrish had a closer look at him. "You look better than I thought you would."
"Unlike others …" Stiles gave first Parrish then John a pointed look. "I had a good night's sleep. And unlike Peter, it looked worse than it was. Any news on him?" Stiles just had gotten an update from John but he wanted to distract Parrish. He did not want for Parrish to think too closely about him and his by now vanished injuries.
Parrish couldn't tell him much but Nancy chimed in with some news. Talia and Cora were staying with her but so far Talia only had made sure that Cora was all set. Aside from that, she hadn't left the hospital. She was managing everything from outside Peter's room.
"I would like to see him if that's okay with Talia," Stiles said, not sure if he was even welcomed at the hospital. The pack most likely wanted to keep to themselves at the moment.
"Of course," Nancy hurried to say. "You can come by whenever you want. Talia wants to speak to you, anyway. I don't think anybody has thanked you properly yet, without you …" She shook her head, unable to finish the sentence. She was not part of the inner core but she was pack, Stiles knew that. This had shaken her as well.
"Can we not make a big deal out of that?" Stiles pleaded.
"You're still a hero." Nancy gave him a shy smile.
