OMG WHAT IS THIS?! I UPDATED?!

Seriously guys, I am SO very sorry for how late this chapter is. I honestly have been so busy, with school and being extremely sick that I never had a chance to sit down and properly focus on this story. Hopefully, that can change soon!

As always, a big thank you to my beta Lessienamandil

More notes at the end.

Disclaimer: Teen wolf and its characters are not owned by me. I will not take credit for it. It belongs to its rightful owners.

About a week after Stiles went into a coma, he was transferred to the hospital in Beacon Hills where Melissa could keep an eye on him.

Of course the pack kept an eye on him as well. It was very rare that the doctor or someone else would find Stiles alone in his room. There was always at least one member of the pack in the room at all times.

While they were keeping an eye on him, most of the pack was there purely for the sake of being there for their friend and pack mate. All of them were worried about Stiles and just wanted him to get better.

It was not often that Scott and Derek were away from the hospital. The two of them spent every waking minute watching over him. No one could get them away from Stiles unless they had a really good excuse.

Derek was gone more frequently than Scott. Despite being worried about Stiles, he was still committed to his duties as the pack's alpha. If he couldn't do his duties from beside Stiles' bed, then he'd leave for a short amount of time to do what was needed.

It was Scott who had been with Stiles when the boy finally woke up. The werewolf had been almost falling asleep when he heard the shift in Stiles' heartbeat and breathing.

His eyes flew open and landed straight on Stiles as the boy awoke and looked around dazed.

"S-stiles?"

Stiles' gaze finally landed on his best friend. There was a hopeful look on the werewolf's face.

"What's with the look Scott? You look like some sort of lost puppy seeing its' owners again for the first time in months." He chuckled softly.

"I'm not dreaming right? You are actually awake and speaking to me…" Scott replied, his voice carrying his disbelief.

Stiles let out a slightly pained laugh and shook his head as he sighed.

"I'm awake Scott. You're not dreaming."

The hurt grin that spread across Scott's face was something Stiles hadn't expected. Neither did he expect his best friend to break down in tears.

"Scott?"

The werewolf lowered his head so that Stiles couldn't see how he was reacting.

"I can't believe you're finally awake…" He muttered, shaking his head.

"H-how long was I out for?" Stiles asked, unsure about whether or not he wanted to hear the answer.

"At least a month. You got moved here a week after you finally slipped into a coma. Every day, we hoped and wished that you'd wake up. That we wouldn't lose you."

Stiles bit his bottom lip as Scott looked up at him. The pure relief on his face showed that he was in fact happy, despite the fact that he was crying.

"How are the guys? Anything new?" Stiles asked.

"Physically we're fine. Everyone healed up a few weeks after we conducted your rescue. When the others haven't been here, they've had a few training sessions to try and get stronger. We don't want the same wounds we got from rescuing you. And I'm pretty sure you'd agree with that one."

Scott paused, knowing that Stiles expected the full reply. But he also knew that his best friend wouldn't like hearing how torn up the pack had been over his injuries.

"And mentally?"

"….Mentally the pack has been an absolute mess. At least two of us would be here every day. Of course, those two were usually me and Derek. Isaac would be here nearly as often. When he wasn't here, he was off with Danny. The pups got left with the poor guy when we split. Isaac figured it was only right for the pack to do most of the caring for them.

Jackson hasn't been here as often. Honestly, it seems like he'd rather leave again. But he's stayed because he knows that the pack would only end up worse if he left again. I think that's the only thing that's keeping him here. His slight loyalty to the pack."

Stiles made a small noise of agreement before stopping Scott from going further.

"What about the alpha pack? Or finding Boyd and Erica. Any new leads?"

Scott shook his head, aware that the pack would be arriving soon like they always did to check up on how their alpha and fellow beta were doing.

"No. The alpha pack disappeared not long after you got brought here. We originally thought they'd come for you while you were weak. But surprisingly they didn't. We've had a watch over you for quite a while. We even had hunters watching over you. Wasn't really necessary, but we weren't letting you disappear again. Not after what happened the first time. We weren't willing to take the risk." He explained, his hearing picking up the sound of the others travelling towards the room.

"The rest of the pack is coming. Do you want them to know you're awake?"

Stiles paused a second to think before nodding.

"They'll only remain worried and stressed if you lie to them." He responded, just as the handle to the room turned and the alpha werewolf walked in, looking worse for wear.

"D-Derek? You're back?" Scott commented, looking at the worn-down wolf.

"Yeah. I couldn't focus. How's he doing?" Derek replied, not bothering to look up as he took his normal seat near Stiles' bed.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Derek's gaze hardened as he glared at Scott, thinking the beta had finally lost it and was joking around. His slightly red eyes then turned to see Stiles sitting partly upright in his bed, a weak grin on his face.

"Stiles?"

"Heya Sourwolf. Miss me?"

The alpha literally didn't move, stunned almost into silence as he stared at the boy.

"Scott, I'm not hallucinating right? He's actually awake?" Derek asked, addressing the beta.

"Yeah, he's awake."

The grin that spread across Derek's face was brief, but something Stiles still managed to catch. Derek soon went back to being his grumpy self, his features hardening.

"At least you're awake. The pack's been worried sick about you. We almost lost you several times. What were you thinking? Going after Jackson alone like that! There was no telling what could've happened. And look at what did happen! You almost died! What would we have done if you had died? Huh?" He growled, his hands balled up tightly by his sides.

Scott's eyes widened slightly as Derek growled at his best friend. After how torn up the beta had seen him, he didn't think this would be the way the alpha would react.

Stiles looked down at his hands, biting his bottom lip slightly. Honestly, this was more what he'd been expecting the entire time. He'd been stupid to go off alone and he'd only caused the group more problems.

"I'm sorry…I wasn't thinking." He muttered slightly, not looking up.

Derek let out an exhausted sigh and Stiles glanced up to see just how bad the alpha really was. He noticed the tired and worn out look in his eyes. But he could also see how much Derek was tearing himself up over it.

"D-Derek…I…You don't really still blame yourself for this do you?" He asked.

Derek glanced at Scott, seeing the slight narrow of his eyes. He sighed again and looks up at Stiles, shaking his head.

"I know you don't think it's my fault that this happened, but it is. You have pack scent Stiles….quite a strong amount as well. I am the alpha of the pack and believe it or not, my scent is the strongest on you. Because I chose to ask you to help with the puppies. That meant that you had more of my scent than you did any of the others, including Scott."

Stiles sighed and moved himself into a more comfortable position.

"I don't blame you Derek, or anyone else in the pack for that matter. I'm bound to carry pack scent as I'm as much a member of the pack as anyone else. But that doesn't change the fact that my actions caused all of you to get hurt. I'm sorry."

Scott watched the exchange between the two, unsure of what to say. It was clear both of them blamed themselves and while Derek did hold a bit of blame on Stiles, it wasn't enough to really count. It was more only the blame of Stiles not asking for help rather than the blame of what happened.

"It wasn't anyone's fault among our pack. The only ones to blame for this mess is the alpha pack. They're the ones who tore Stiles up and left him hanging, literally. While Stiles having pack scent on him most likely influenced the way he was attacked, there's no point having blame because of that. After all, it comes from belonging to the pack."

Scott turned to look at the door where Isaac was standing by the door. No doubt Jackson and the girls were waiting outside the door for someone to let them know when they could take their turn in the room.

Stiles glanced at Isaac as the werewolf walked further into the room to stand between Derek and Scott. He gave Stiles a smile as he focused his attention on the injured boy.

"Glad to see you're awake Stiles. You gave us all quite a scare."

Stiles gave a slightly awkward laugh and shook his head.

"Yeah I know. I am sorry about that. It was definitely one of my dumber moments." He agreed.

Isaac smiled again before glancing back towards the door. He could hear the girls and Jackson getting impatient outside the door.

"Well, I won't take long. I know the others can't wait to see you as well and I'd be kidding myself if I tried to drag Scott or Derek away from you. Stay well this time Stiles, okay?"

"Yeah, the same to you."

…..:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::…..

Several weeks passed since Stiles first woke up. He was growing stronger as each week passed and his wounds were healing better than what they were when he was suffering from the initial issues. He still wasn't left alone in his room, not that he minded much. The visits from the rest of the pack became less frequent but Stiles could always look forward to seeing his best friend and his favourite grumpy werewolf.

As the weeks passed, Stiles was able to get up and spend small amounts of time walking around his hospital room, getting his legs used to being used again. Most of his wounds had healed without leaving scars behind but there was a few, like the long claw mark along his chest where the alpha had dragged it's claw along, that had left very noticeable scars behind.

When Stiles finally got out of hospital, he was put on house arrest for several more weeks. It was his dad's way of 'ensuring no further harm happened to him.' Stiles wouldn't have minded, if it wasn't for the fact he was dying to see his little pack again and he'd gotten used to having a certain werewolf constantly around him. So once the weeks were gone, his first place to visit was the old Hale residence in the forest.

His jeep rumbled down the path as he slowed it to a halt outside the house. A wide grin spread across his face as he looked the house up and down. He jumped out of the car and managed to take about five steps towards the house before he was bowled over by a pack of puppies. He burst out laughing whilst his face was covered in kisses and wet noses.

He heard a small laugh from by the house and glanced over to see Derek standing there, leaning against the doorframe. Stiles stuck his tongue out at the werewolf as he sat up, pushing the puppies off his face.

"Thanks for the help Sourwolf." Stiles joked, leading the puppies back inside the house, smiling at the way they bounced around him.

Derek rolled his eyes before following Stiles inside the house. He pushed the boy onto the couch before sitting on the other end.

"I don't believe you needed my help against 5 puppies." He smirked.

Stiles rolled his eyes before pulling Lily onto his lap and covering the puppy with kisses, laughing as she squirmed in his arms to try and lick him back. Derek watched the two of them, a small smile playing on his lips without him realising. He'd forgotten how much the puppies loved having Stiles around. No, he'd forgotten how much they all loved having Stiles around. He was a part of the pack. He would always be.

I promise this won't happen again Stiles. I promise, I'll protect ALL the pack better this time. We can't lose you. You're too important to us….to me.

Again, so sorry for the lateness of this chapter. Hopefully it won't take this long again. I love this story too much to give up on it

Samuel Wheeler: I'm glad you are enjoying the story and I hope you have been able to handle the wait for the next chapter.

Catherine: I'm happy you're enjoying the story so far. As I said in chapter 9, the puppies are in the current care of a friend of Allison's.

Guest: I'm sorry the story isn't exactly what you expected. I have a habbit of adding drama into my stories. I hope you can enjoy it again once the darker times have passed.