Ray sighed, parking the car. He had just gotten home from work and was exhausted. After Rose's death, he had taken on more clients, trying to keep money coming in. It wasn't as if they were poor, the opposite really but since Julie and Carlos went back to school, the house was too lonely to spend much time there alone. He bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. Carlos had gotten a lot better since their mother's death but Julie was still a big worry. While she had gone back to school months ago, she still didn't sing or play music. It was like a part of her had died with Rose and he didn't know what to do anymore.

"What…?" he frowned, looking to his left when he heard a quiet shuffling sound in the corner of their porch. He moved closer hesitatingly before rushing to the prone figure on their bench "Stiles? Is that you, kid?"

Stiles flinched away from the hands, having drifted in and out of consciousness for the past couple hours. He didn't even remember how he got here and it was a wonder he didn't crash along the way "No," he whispered, huddling against the house's wall "Please… Not again."

"Ay," Ray breathed, backing off a little "¿Qué pasó, Stiles?"

"Ray?" Stiles blinked, trying to focus on where his mind was dragging him "Hurts. 'M sorry. Didn't mean to…"

"Hush, little one," Ray whispered softly "Stiles, is it alright if I pick you up? It's more comfortable inside."

Stiles chewed on his lip unsurely before he nodded, looking up at his uncle with teary eyes. Moving around and trying to concentrate on the road had worsened his condition again, making it even harder for him to stay focussed on anything but the pain and the memories.

Ray moved towards Stiles, making sure to keep his hands within the boy's sight for as long as he could. His heart broke at the flinch when he finally made contact and the lack of weight to Stiles "Is this alright?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Stiles mumbled, burying his head in Ray's shoulder.


Ray sighed when he finally managed to settle Stiles in the guest room he had occupied when he was younger "Oh, what happened to you, Stiles?" he whispered to the sleeping boy. After he had gotten glimpses of his injuries, he was ready to call an ambulance but Stiles had baulked at that and now Ray didn't know what to do. Well, first things first. He needed to call Victoria. His sister-in-law always knew what to do and maybe she could help him figure out what happened and how to move forward from this.

"What happened?" Victoria asked as soon as she picked up the phone.

Ray huffed out a laugh, moving out into the hallway to make sure he didn't wake Stiles "What makes you think something happened?"

"You never call unless something is wrong. Ray, what's wrong?"

"I never could keep things from you, could I?" Ray asked with a small sigh "Stiles was pretty much passed out on the porch when I got back from work today… He is really hurt, Victoria. I just got him to bed and got him changed as well as I could but he refuses to go to the hospital."

Victoria was silent for a moment "Tell me what happened."

"That's the thing," Ray exclaimed, worry tainting his words "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything and I'm worried. It looks like he's been tortured, Victoria. Who would do that to a sixteen-year-old boy?"

"I'm coming over. And I'm bringing a doctor with me. I don't care if that boy protests or not," Victoria huffed, shaking her head "I'll be there soon, Ray."

"Thank you, Victoria…" Ray trailed off when the dial tone sounded. He looked at his phone in amusement before he slid down the wall, hiding his face in his hands "Oh, Rose… What do I do with this? Julie lost her passion for music, Carlos pretends that he is fine and now Stiles is here… You would know what to do now."


Stiles backed away, hitting the ground on the other side of his bed with a pained grimace "I don't want a doctor," he snapped, scrambling into the corner of the room. His eyes caught Ray's conflicted expression and he shook his head "I told you I didn't want anyone to see me."

"I'm sorry, mijo," Ray murmured "But you need help and I…"

"It's for the best, mijo," Victoria smiled, crouching down a couple of feet away from Stiles "You don't want to hurt, do you?"

Stiles watched her for a moment before his eyes flickered to the man who had been standing in the doorway, waiting for him to be ready "No," he whispered, looking down at his knees.

"There we go," Victoria exclaimed cheerfully and held out her hand "Now come. Let the doctor look at you and I promise I'll get you some curly fries. You still like them, don't you?"

"Bribery," Stiles snorted, eyeing the doctor nervously. He didn't want anyone to see what Gerard did to him… But he wasn't sure how bad his injuries were either, so he'd rather not take any chances now that people seemed to care about what happened to him "Classy. And yeah, I still like them."

The doctor took out some of his supplied and held up the cuff he used to measure blood-pressure "I need your arm for this, kid," he spoke up, making sure to keep his movements slow and project what he was going to do as well as he could. He quickly got everything set up and frowned when he realised how uneven the boy's heartbeat seemed to be. To be sure, he clipped a pulse oximeter to Stiles' finger, letting the uneven beats fill the room "I need you to take off your shirt, Stiles," the doctor told him, moving his bag from the chair to the bed next to Stiles. If he couldn't find the reason behind the arrhythmia or if it didn't go down in the next couple of minutes, he would need to call an ambulance regardless "I can call you Stiles, right?"

Stiles nodded quietly and tugged at his shirt. He looked from Ray to Victoria before he tugged at his shirt again "I… I don't want anyone to see…"

The doctor smiled patiently "How about we ask your family to leave, hm? They can wait outside if that would make you more comfortable."

"No," Stiles muttered "I just…" He rubbed at his eyes tiredly before chewing on his lip "I can't get my shirt off…"

The doctor opened his mouth when Ray moved forward, crouching down in front of the sixteen-year-old "Would you like me to help you, mijo?" Stiles nodded lightly, moving closer to the edge of the bed, letting Ray raise his shirt over his head. He bit back a scream when the material ripped away from some dried blood, reopening some of the wounds on his back.

The three adults froze at the battlefield that turned out to be Stiles' chest "Who did that?" the doctor asked, cataloguing the injuries he could see. There wasn't an inch of the boy's skin without an injury of sorts. Bruises, welts, burns and what appeared to be…

"No one," Stiles muttered, staring at his feet resolutely. He didn't want to see the look in their eyes. He didn't want the pity.

"Stiles," the doctor started gently "Injuries like these don't happen by accident." Stiles just shrugged and flinched back when the doctor prodded at some of the angry-looking welts "Some of these need stitches."

Ray clenched his hands into fists, glaring at the floor. He took another look at Stiles before he turned and left the room, leaving Victoria and the doctor alone with Stiles. He slid down the wall across the door and squeezed his eyes shut. This couldn't be happening. Stiles was supposed to be happy… He and Noah were supposed to have moved on and live happily. One thought that had gotten him through the last year was that one day, he would be able to live again… Seeing Stiles like this was hard on Ray.

"Dad?" Carlos spoke up, seeing his father sitting on the ground outside their guest room "Dad? What's wrong?"

Ray blinked against the tears, wiping at his cheeks "Nothing, mijo. Everything's alright."

Carlos raised his eyebrow "I'm not an idiot."

"No," Ray smiled "Of course, you're not." He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair "Stiles showed up earlier…"

"Stiles is here?" Carlos asked, his eyes lighting up. He frowned in confusion when Ray stopped him from going into the room "Dad?"

"He isn't doing too well," Ray admitted quietly "Your tia is in there with a doctor. You can see him later, alright?"

"A doctor?" Carlos questioned "Is he alright?"

Ray bit his lip "He will be."

Hey guys. This is going to be part of my Christmas present to you guys. I did my best to write for as many Fics as possible for Christmas but the rest didn't work yet. For the Fics that haven't been updated in this wave, I'll try to get an update out till March (I have exams in February, so I should be able to get stuff done until March).

For those interested, feel free to join my Facebook Group (NicholasFlamel's Corner) where I post snippets of chapters I write, ideas I have and finished/abandoned Fics. Link: groups/687956758591756