The very next morning, Derek left for the little town in Oregon, promising that he would be back home in a couple days. He left Stiles standing on the porch with Sophie in his arms. Even though Stiles couldn't go, his heart went with Derek.
Stiles didn't know what he believed in, but he prayed. Prayed that Derek would find the truth. He looked down on Sophie, even if that meant that her father was safe. His little lapse the night before felt like it happened months ago.
He walked back inside to find Lydia waiting for him. He handed Sophie over, "I'll see you around one."
"We'll be fine! We're gonna have some girl time," Lydia said, taking Sophie's hand and waving it at Stiles, "Say, bye momma! We'll see you later!"
Stiles fondly rolled his eyes, but took his keys and his bag, before leaving for work. The entire day seemed to drag on, with Stiles' mind a million miles away. It wasn't until halfway through the morning that he really looked up and noticed what was going on.
"Stiles, we need three copies of this," Patricia said. She was one of the writers for the paper, with her advice column.
"Sure thing," He said and took the papers that were handed to him, going to the copying room. After obtaining the necessary number of copies, he took them back to her.
She smiled, "Thank you. So, I heard from Arnold that you're good at research."
Stiles nodded, "I'm pretty good at it."
"That's good," She said, "I would like you to help me research this info piece that I'm doing."
Stiles nodded, "That'd be great, as long as that's cool with Arnold."
Patricia laughed, "That's who said I should ask you. Do you have a minute to sit down and I'll let you know what it's about?"
"Of course," He said, pulling up a chair to her desk.
"I'm working on a piece involving missing people and the behavioral hospital over in Sonora," She said, showing Stiles the town on a map. It was about four hours away from where they were. "There have been multiple accounts of loved ones going missing after being admitted into the institute."
Stiles sat and made notes, a detailed list of everything she was saying, "What do the police say on the matter?"
"According to documents obtained from the hospital, the patients left of their own free will after being cleared by the overseeing physician." Patricia said, "These patients however, all disappeared, never to be heard from again."
"What documents were they able to get their hands on? I'm pretty sure that doctor, patient confidentiality would have been broken if they were given their records," Stiles said.
Patricia nodded, "That's exactly what I thought. Whatever the hospital gave them, it couldn't have been their medical record, since they claim that the patients are alive and well."
"That is concerning," Stiles said, scribbling down some more notes, "What can I do to help?"
"I would like to spend the next couple days researching everything you can about the hospital, going back to when it first opened," Patricia said, handing Stiles one of the sheets he had printed for her, "This is what I know so far, if you could elaborate on it, I'd be thankful."
Stiles looked it over. It held simple information, like that the hospital opened in the year 1910. "I'll dig up what I can," He said and Patricia thanked him.
When he looked at his watch, it was time for him to leave for the day. He walked out, putting the paper she had given him along with his notes into his bag. It was close to the time he had told Lydia that he'd be back when he pulled up in front of the house.
He found Lydia and Erica in the living room, and Sophie on her mat doing tummy time. Stiles smiled as he got down on the floor with her, watching her smile back at him. "How was your morning, sweet girl?" He asked.
Sophie swung a little fist at him, reaching for his hair. A glint of pink caught his eye and he took her little hand in his. Her nails were painted a pale shade of pink. Erica and Lydia both looked away, back to their conversation when he gave them an accusatory look.
It was pretty cute, he had to admit. Sophie's skin was a warm shade and the nail polish stood out against her complexion.
"So, Stiles, we were talking about getting her ears pierced," Erica said.
Stiles glanced up at them, "And why would we do that?"
"It's better to do it early, so that she won't remember the pain," Lydia explained, "She'll heal right up too, there would be no worry about it getting infected."
"Again, why?" He asked.
Lydia sighed, "Just imagine how cute she would be."
"She's already pretty cute," Stiles said, focusing back on Sophie when she babbled at him.
"How are people supposed to know that she's a girl?" Erica tried.
Stiles shook his head, "We put her in pretty clothes and bows in her hair, I don't think that anyone would be confused."
"Oh, come on, Stiles," Lydia said, "She's the only little girl this pack will likely have, not until Erica and I start thinking about kids."
That tugged on just the right heart strings that Lydia was banking on. "You had to hit me where it hurts," Stiles said, meeting her eye. "Fine, but if Derek is upset about it, it's the two of you that are getting yelled at."
Erica and Lydia both smiled, high fiving each other, "Good, because her appointment is in an hour."
At just that moment, a smell permeated the air and Stiles wrinkled his nose. "No way, we've changed her this morning, it's your turn," Erica said when Stiles tried to pawn it off.
"Alright," Stiles said, picking up Sophie and carrying her upstairs.
He got her on the changing table no problem. It was taking off her onesie that was the hard part. Sophie kicked and kicked, and when Stiles looked closer, he could see that she'd had a blow out.
"Come on, Sophie, you've got to work with me here," Stiles begged, peeling off her onesie gently and tossing it in the laundry bin. If anyone asked, Stiles would say that it took a half a pack of wipes to get her cleaned up, but that may have been an exaggeration.
After she was clean and nappied, Stiles dressed her in her little purple and green tracksuit, just to hear the girls complain. He did put a purple barrette in her hair though.
"Let's go little miss, or we'll be late," Stiles said, taking her down and putting her in the carrier.
Lydia and Erica were already outside waiting on them. He made sure that Sophie was carefully strapped in, before driving them into town, following Lydia's directions. They pulled up outside of a tattoo parlor.
Erica carried Sophie in and Lydia spoke to the heavily tattooed woman behind the desk. "We're here for Sophie Hale's appointment," She said kindly.
The woman nodded with a smile, "I'm Cherry, I'll be the piercer working with you. Is this Miss Sophie?" Erica allowed her to reach out and shake Sophie's hand, "You all can follow me."
Cherry led them through the studio, to the sounds of a couple artists tattooing clients. They entered a room with a reclining chair in the middle of it. She took a paper off of the sink in the corner.
"This is a release, since she's so young, we need parental approval," Cherry said, holding out the paper. Stiles took it, reading it over. "It also releases the shop from any litigation due to lack of proper aftercare resulting in infection."
It was simple enough and Stiles accepted the pen handed to him. He signed his name on the dotted line, Stiles Stilinksi-Hale. She looked it over and put it into a filing cabinet in the corner.
"Okay! Who's holding Sophie?" Cherry asked and Stiles reached to take her from Erica.
He sat up on the reclining chair, propping Sophie up against his chest. Cherry took a special pen and dotted each of Sophie's ears. As she prepared to pierce her right ear, Erica took hold of Sophie's leg. For a moment, Stiles wondered why but then Cherry put the needle through Sophie's ear.
Sophie's face scrunched up, on the verge of tears before she sucked in a short breath and sighed it out. Erica was taking her pain. Stiles didn't know how to express how much he appreciated that.
The left ear went much the same, with Sophie almost crying before immediately being soothed. Cherry grinned as she fastened the backing onto the earring and began to give them aftercare instructions. Stiles wasn't able to tell her that Sophie would be healed within the hour.
"Sophie sat really well for her piercing," Cherry commended and Stiles just smiled at her. When they got back to the front of the store, Lydia pulled out her card and paid for it. She handed Cherry a twenty to pocket as a tip. "Thank you for coming in today!"
They bid their goodbyes, taking Sophie back out to the car. "How about we have some lunch?" Lydia asked as she got into the passenger seat.
"That's fine with me," Stiles said, suddenly glad that he thought ahead by bringing Sophie's bottle with them, "Where to?"
Erica asked for the diner, the very one that he and Isaac had walked to. Approved by Lydia, he drove that way.
Lunch was good, although Stiles did have to pause halfway through his meal to give Sophie her bottle. She chugged it down in record time, giving Stiles the opportunity to finish his slightly lukewarm burger.
Erica took her to pat out a burp, "You know, I think they're already healed." She pointed at Sophie's little ear and then sniffed at it, "Yea, it is." It never ceased to amaze Stiles, the capabilities of a werewolf.
Stiles' pocket started vibrating, so he pulled out his phone. It was Derek. "Hey, did you make it there safe?" He asked as a greeting.
"Yea, the drive wasn't too bad," Derek said, "I think we have a problem."
"What's happened?" Stiles asked, a bad feeling coming over him.
Derek sighed heavily into the speaker, "When I arrived, Nathaniel was in the morgue."
"Please tell me you mean that he met you at the morgue," Stiles said, much to the curiosity of Lydia.
"I wouldn't be calling if that was the case," Derek said, "There is also no sign of his pack. I called Deaton, he's heading this way to help me."
"What kind of help could he give?" Stiles asked. Lydia motioned at him to put it on speaker phone, but Stiles shook his head. They were in the middle of the diner after all.
"He's going to get us clearance to see the bodies, I'll be able to scent out what attacked them," Derek said and that left Stiles confused.
"How is he supposed to get clearance? He's a veterinarian," Stiles said.
Derek chuckled, "The same way he got us in to see my sister, fake credentials."
"Alright, keep me updated," Stiles said, "And if you need me to come up there."
"We should be back by tomorrow afternoon, there's no need," Derek said. Something about his voice made Stiles have doubts, but he trusted Derek.
When they got off the phone, Stiles gave Erica and Lydia a quick run down.
"That doesn't make any sense, why would an established pack just vanish?" Lydia wondered.
"My thoughts exactly, I feel like more bodies are going to pop up," Stiles said, watching as Erica bounced Sophie to sleep.
"Why would they feel the need to eliminate an entire pack?" Erica asked, just as confused as they were.
It suddenly came to him.
"If they were aiding a fugitive, in this case Eliza, they were likely seen as collateral." Stiles said thoughtfully.
"Why was she a fugitive?" Lydia asked.
"Because she took the baby with her," Stiles said, quickly texting Derek, reminding him to be careful.
"We don't know that for sure though," Erica said.
"That's just it though, Derek will know immediately, as soon as he scents this alpha," Lydia said as if she just cracked the code. For some reason, Stiles felt like they had.
"What are we going to do at that point?" Stiles asked.
"We'll take Sophie, Jackson and I, to my parents. So, when he shows up, if he's done what we think he's done, she won't be in danger," Lydia said and the offer was so tempting.
"I want the rest of the pack at the house on Friday," Stiles said, "There's more power in numbers."
"We'll be there," Erica said with a nod.
Stiles nodded as well before scolding Lydia when she tried to take the check. "You already paid for her earrings," Stiles said when she tried to protest.
"Anything for the sweet girl," Lydia said, smoothing down Sophie's hair. Sophie snuffled in her sleep but didn't wake.
When they arrived back at the house, Isaac and Scott were both home. Stiles asked Erica where Boyd was and she let him know that he was lifeguarding at the pool. He wondered when Boyd had gotten the job, but he may have already had it for a while. Boyd was certainly the silent and broody type. He wondered if that was part of the appeal that kept Erica interested.
Erica took Sophie to lay her down upstairs, leaving Stiles and Lydia in the living room. Stiles pulled out his laptop as Lydia started looking through her phone. While Sophie was napping, Stiles intended to dive into the research from work just to keep his mind off things.
