"I don't know about this, Rafe," Noah sighed as he stood a few feet in front of the quarantine tent that Stiles had been forced into as soon as he had emerged with Kira and Scott from who knew where, "he's still pretty shaken."

"If this wasn't an FBI and CDC joint investigation, I'd leave it alone. But given what I saw, my guess is Stiles either figured out how the sickness only affected the students and one teacher, or stalled long enough to get the information," he stopped to sigh before returning his gaze back to the resident sheriff, "you have no reason to let me do this, I understand that. I don't want to do this either. But you of all people know when we have to put away our personal beliefs. Even if that includes questioning a traumatized induvial."

He watched Noah as he struggled to make a decision for a few moments before letting out a second sigh of resignation and held open the flap for him to walk inside and lay eyes on the boy who he had just killed for.

'He definitely looks a little better.' Rafe realized when he saw that the blood splattered clothes had been replaced with a beige gown that would have been better used as a sheet of paper and his face was mostly clean, albeit still a little red tinted on the edges.

"What do you want?" Stiles' voice, while having his normal snappy words attached, had lost all of its bite, resulting in a hollow sarcasm that made Rafe shudder internally.

"I just need to ask you a few questions, Stiles," Rafe told him as he sat on the end of the bed which was surprisingly easy since Stiles had his knees up against his chest, "how did you find out about how the virus was transmitted?"

"I figured it out," Stiles muttered quietly, "I noticed Coach was the only adult who got sick, so I went to his office to see if there was any sort of connection. Sure enough, Coach had run out of ink for permission slips so he had borrowed it from the PSATs."

"And the teacher, the one conducting the tests, he found you before you could tell anyone?"

"Yeah," Stiles stopped to take an audible inhale, "he walked in and told me he was wondering how Coach got sick before asking me where Malia, Kira and Scott were. That's when he pulled the gun out."

"What did he want with your friends?" Rafe asked softly, trying to ignore the fact that Scott's name had been said.

"Something about wanting to kill all the students, I'm not sure why. He said the sickness was made to weaken before he started shooting. He told me that if...if I told him where they were, that he would let me live." Stiles' voice was cracking now, obviously dropping his dry persona.

Rafe decided to get up to leave. After all, he knew what happened next and he didn't want to make a kid cry when the kid hated his guts, but before he could open the tent flap, Stiles' voice cut him off.

"Why did you save me?" Rafe turned around with a pang of shock in his chest and Stiles elaborated, "you knew what the cure was, because Melissa told you. You could have told Scott yourself, so...why did you save me?"

Rafe sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly before finally speaking, hoping that his answer was sufficient. "One, because I knew you'd be able to find him faster. I've never hated you, Stiles. And even if I did, one of the worst things I've ever seen a parent go through is child loss. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

Stiles nodded despite the tears still streaming down his face and Rafe wanted to know exactly why Stiles would want to know why someone would save him from being killed, but it wasn't his place to ask.

So he left the tent without another word and went to go make sure his own child was okay.