As Deaton, Scott and Lydia walked into the dining room to discuss things without it overhearing, Melissa did what she did best and grabbed the peroxide, cotton balls and bandages from the bathroom before kneeling down on the floor and started to clean the jagged wound.

She could hear sharp inhales come from him as his skin jerked slightly under her touch despite the paralysis, but she kept her eyes on the wound because she knew that even she wouldn't be able to keep it together if she looked up and saw that she was causing pain to Stiles; not that she could even be sure it was Stiles at this point.

The soft whispers coming from the dining room made her stomach drop, but she kept her focus on the wound; luckily for everyone, it had stopped bleeding at this point so he didn't need stitches, but the fact that he was healing like her son did was also concerning.

'What if the healing affects how long the venom will last?'

It wasn't until she started bandaging the wound, however, that the sniffling started and she could feel her heart start to break as she looked up at his tear filled eyes. That was the boy she had taken care of so many times, both emotionally and physically. He had been under her care just two weeks ago for sleep depravation. This had to be Stiles.

"Stiles?" She asked as she put a hand on his knee, taking the duct tape off of his face gently after he nodded, lifting a hand up to his cheek as he sobbed. "It's going to be okay. We're going to help you."

She could have sworn she had felt a nod against her hand on his cheek before the tears stopped suddenly and the eyes that were once filled with tears turned into a steely glance that had Melissa removing her hand and moving, her back straight as it spoke.

"Really, Melissa? I shed one little tear and that's all it takes? Come on, you can't crumble that easily. How are you gonna hold up when Scott knows the truth?"

That last sentence made Melissa's heart skip a beat because the only ones who knew about that night, why there was an indent in her wood floor, were herself, Rafael and Noah. "What?"

"When he finds out why his dad really left," before she could retaliate, the nogitsune continued to speak, "you know he overheard it, right?" Her shock must've been a dead giveaway despite the fact she was glaring at him, "you had no idea. You called Stilinski right after it happened. You didn't tell Scott, but you told the sheriff. And Stiles heard it like he hears everything, but you know why he never told Scott? Because he knew that Scott would never forgive you. He knew how much he would hate you."

"This isn't you, Stiles." She said, the tears in her own voice coming out involuntarily, making that thing smile.

"It is now."

She grabbed the strip of duct tape again, leaned forward and made sure to push it down as hard as she could, all while it continued to smile at her. Bruises be damned.

'If it can heal from slashing it's own stomach open, it can heal from me too.'