A/N: Yes, I know, two chapters in one day, there's a reason for that. So, I've been sick, I have a friend over from another state, I have work, and I'm in college so if my posting seems erratic, sorry about that. I don't post on a schedule, simply when I can. I hope everyone understands.
Enjoy.
"Ok Mr. Stilinski, you'll be transferred to Beacon Hills Hospital in a couple of hours." The doctor tells him a week after the others had come to visit. "You'll be taken in one of our transportation vehicles and escorted by a police car from here to the Beacon Hills Hospital. Your father also informed us that he will be riding with you while your friends drive behind you so you'll be perfectly safe. If, for any reason at all, you feel uncomfortable or like you need to stop or if you experience any pain, I want you to tell someone immediately. You also have the option of being put under for the duration of the ride. Is that something you would want?"
Stiles shakes his head. He doesn't want anything happening to him without him being aware.
"Alright, that's no problem. Make sure to be honest about how you're feeling throughout the entire ride. If you feel tired, sleep. If you feel thirsty, ask for a drink. If you feel hungry, let someone know." Stiles nods and the doctor looks satisfied. "You'll do fine kid, don't worry. Now, I've got to go get everything ready for the trip. I'll see you in a bit. Rest up."
The doctor leaves and Stiles lays there, letting his body fall into a state of rest where his body's relaxed and his heart is steady but he's not asleep.
"He's alone, just do it now."
"He's hooked up to monitors, they'll know. He's been getting better."
"Inject it into the IV bag being put into the transfer vehicle. He still has to be hooked up so by the time they cross the state line it should take effect and they won't be able to do anything."
The voices fade and his heart ratchets up to panic levels. Within a minute both a nurse and someone heavier, Derek by the sounds of it, are opening his door and racing inside.
"Stiles, what is it? What's wrong?" Derek's voice is next to his head and his hand is immediately gripping his hand gently, pulling out any pain he might be feeling.
"Outside the window, they were there." He chokes out and the hand in his goes rigid.
"Just now?"
He nods and Derek snarls. The hand on his starts to let go but he opens his mouth and yells, or tries to, in protest.
"No! Don't leave me alone! They're going to kill me!"
"Mr. Stilinski, no one is going to kill you, please calm down!" The nurse sounds completely out of her depths.
"Ma'am, I need you to go to the cafeteria and ask for Scott McCall and Sheriff Stilinski, I'll calm him down." He says, leaving no room for argument.
The nurse quits fiddling with whatever wires and machinery and quickly exits the room.
"Stiles, I need you to calm down and tell me what you heard. I will protect you. I'm going to kill every single one of them."
The promise breaks through the fog of promise. Derek isn't a killer.
"They, they, no, you're good. You're not a killer. You're good."
"I'm good enough to give them what they deserve, what you deserve. Stiles, I'm not going to let them get away with what they've done to you. I just need you to tell me what they said."
Stiles takes a breath, pulling in air to match every intake that Derek does.
"They're putting something into the IV for the transport." He whispers out. "It'll kill me by the time we reach state line."
Derek snarls, a low, murderous sound in his throat but Stiles doesn't flinch, it's not a sound that causes him fear. He lifts his hand that's still in the grasp of the Alpha and sets it to Derek's stubbled cheek. The feeling soothes him further. Derek's real.
His father and Scott come barreling into the room, both talking at once and he winces at the noise.
"What happened? Derek, what's going on?"
"Stiles, are you alright?"
Derek snarls again but doesn't make a move away from Stiles' hand that's still on his face. Stiles is content to let Derek talk, just wanting to feel the movement as he talks, the movement that means he's not hallucinating, that it's still real, that they're here and that he's safe. For now.
"The ones who took Stiles were here, outside his window. He said they're going to inject something into the IV they're using in the transport vehicle that'll kill him by the time he reaches the state line."
"We have to stop them!" Scott says a touch too loud.
"No!" Stiles says as loud as he can.
Everyone freezes and turns to him, to where he's trembling on the bed and his heart beat is going crazy.
"Let them. They need to think I'm dead." He says as he tries to keep his body from revolting against him, he wants to throw up, to cry, to scream, to pass out.
There's silence in the room before his dad gives a small, humorless laugh.
"Traumatized and still he's the smartest of us all. I'll make sure to grab an IV and watch it the entire time until it's time for transport. I'll contact the local police, tell them what was overheard and tell the doctors that they'll be getting a call once we're at state lines saying you've died. We'll arrange for another transport vehicle from Nevada to meet us at the state line and transfer you to that one."
"I'll go around to the outside window with Erica and Boyd to try and pick up any scents they might've left behind. Jackson and Isaac can watch the transport cars and report anything suspicious back to us." Scott says quickly.
"I'll be here with Stiles. If anything happens I'll be able to feel it through the pack bonds. Keep my betas safe Scott."
"I always do. You keep my brother safe."
Derek nods and Stiles hears the door open and Scott and his dad leave as quickly as they came.
"Don't worry Stiles, we won't let anything happen to you ever again. Never again." Derek promises.
Stiles keeps his hand, damaged and ugly and barely able to move, pressed against Derek's face, reminding himself that they're not there, they can't get to him, they can't hurt him anymore. This is real, it's not a hallucination, Derek's solid and warm.
They're silent for a long time, just their breathing and the whirr and beeping of the machines. What stirs the air after about half an hour is the sounds of heavy footsteps coming down the hallway and Stiles tenses even before Derek does as he realizes they're headed for them. The door slides open and Derek relaxes slightly so Stiles does too even though he doesn't recognize the sounds of the people.
"Mr. Stilinski?"
Stiles nods in the general direction of the man's voice.
"My name is Officer Smalls, this is my partner Officer Williams, we'll be asking you a few questions about the…"
The officer trails off as loud, rapid beating cuts through the relative calm.
"No, please, I don't have answers. I can't tell you anything!" Stiles replies automatically, going to struggle but finding his body too heavy to move.
His limbs can flail though and that's what they do before strong hands grip his wrists carefully but firmly and fold them over his abdomen. At the feeling of being restrained he cries out with fear, his blind eyes searching frantically for a way out, anything to make them not hurt him.
"Please, please, please, I don't know." He sobs.
"Stiles, you have to come back to me, Stiles, you're safe, you're not there, they're not here, you're safe. Stiles, you're with me, your dad is safe, Scott is safe, everyone is safe. You're not going to get hurt, they're not going to hurt you."
Derek's voice is calm and soothing in his ear the entire time until the ringing in his ears fade to the point he can hear him, until his sobs turn to shudders and finally he can breathe again. Derek continues talking to him in a quiet voice, telling him that the officers here are going to make sure that they do everything they can to find the people that did this to him, that they're going to help, that they're going to keep him safe.
"You think you can handle them talking to you? Just talking, all you have to do is talk back. No interrogation."
Stiles pulls in breath after breath, remembering to match the air that goes in and out of Derek to keep the panic at bay. After another minute, he nods.
"Sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry about, it's ok."
"Stiles, is it? Do you mind if we take a seat while we talk?"
A gentle, female voice has him startling but he's calmer so he nods and he hears their uniforms shift as they take their seats at the foot of his hospital bed.
"Ok Stiles, we heard that you've been gone for seven months, almost eight now. Can you tell us about the day you went missing?"
There are fine tremors running through Stiles' body but he opens his mouth and answers anyway.
"I was walking home from school, my Jeep died in the lot. A black car rolled up, there were three men. I didn't see their faces, they were big. They drugged me and I woke up in a room."
He can hear the scratch of pens as they write everything down and he knows that they have a recording device somewhere that was probably switched on even before his freak out earlier.
"Can you tell us about the room?"
The tremors are turning into shakes again and he doesn't know if he'll be able to handle a full blown panic attack.
"Stiles, it's fine, you don't have to say anything you don't want to. How about you just tell them whatever you can. Don't think about anything you can't." Derek's calm voice is in his ear again and he lifts his hand from where it'd come to a rest on his abdomen and puts it on Derek's face again, a reminder of what's real.
"They have three cars, all black. I stole one and drove it down a road until I passed out. I think I crashed it. There's a dirt road I took away from the building. They have a garage that goes underground. There's never any windows. I don't know if it's day outside, it always seems to be night. It's so quiet and cold. They don't let me use the bathroom."
Each word comes out haltingly and so quiet that eventually Derek has to repeat what he's saying louder for the officers to hear. He can't continue, he's slipping back into his method of survival, not thinking, not feeling, nothing's real, he's going to hurt and then he's going to die but he has to stay quiet, he has to be smart, he has to survive as long as he can.
"You did good Stiles. You can rest now." Derek decides for everyone that they're done and Stiles slumps back against the pillow, his head lolling to the side as he's too drained to keep it upright.
"Thank you, Stiles, that's enough for now. We'll be working closely with your father to catch these people. You're very strong and very brave, keep it up kid." Officer Williams says in a gentle but strong voice
They both stand up and Stiles doesn't bother turning towards the sound as they leave. Derek's hand smooths through his hair which the doctors had to shave off to check his head injuries but it's growth fuzzy again.
"You did well, good job."
Stiles wants to ask where this gentler side came from but he can't find it in him to speak another word.
A/N: Please let me know if you all are enjoying this, I'm still having fun writing.
~hearts~