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CHAPTER 23

As Scott swirled through the darkness, he felt the hand on Stiles start to slip, and Stiles disappeared. "No!" he yelled, and then they were there. They were back at Stiles's house. Scott looked around, recognizing it immediately as almost identical as the memory when Stiles had broken his arm. Claudia Stilinski strolled into the living room where Lydia and Scott had arrived, and began dusting the room, humming. Scott recognized it as the same song she'd hummed to Stiles when he'd broken his arm. It had a good tune, and was almost calming.

There were footsteps on the stairs and a small hand appeared on the railing. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, Lydia began laughing. "Oh. My God. He looks so freaking adorable." Stiles looked about five or six, and was dressed in overalls with a red striped shirt. His hair was all over the place and he had a goofy grin on his face. He looked so young and innocent, unburdened by the worlds problems. Scott realized that the youngest Lydia had seen Stiles in here was ten when his mother was in the hospital. "He's so cute!" She turned to Scott "Should you roar when he's this young? It may scare him."

"Lydia we almost reached him in the basement with Malia- we can't stop now."

"Mom! Look I picked out my own clothes!" Stiles declared proudly as he walked towards his mom.

Lydia looked at Scott with one eyebrow up. "Okay that is adorable." He said. "And he'll kill me for saying that later" With that , Scott roared, eyes burning red and fangs extending. He was partially nervous it would scare the absolute crap out of tiny Stiles, but Stiles didn't even flinch. He didn't acknowledge Scott or Lydia at all. "Wha- what just happened" Scott asked. Lydia was looking at Stiles in dread. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but it went through as if made of mist.

Across the room, Claudia jumped in surprise and turned around to look at her son with a confused expression. "Oh hello" She said,"how did you get in here?" Stiles looked at his mother, baffled. "You know, you're not supposed to wander into other peoples houses it's not nice." Claudia said, kneeling next to her very bewildered child. "Where's your mommy?"

"What do you mean?" Stiles said. Then he laughed "Oh good one mom you got me! You can stop pretending now."

Now it was Claudias turn to look bewildered "Honey what's your name? Your parents are probably scared out of their minds."

Lydia was looking back and forth between Scott and Claudia. "You don't think..."

"I don't know. I know symptoms can start appearing years before it becomes terminal, so it's possible." Scott said, eyes tuning back to brown.

Just then, Mr. Stilinski came through the door, sporting grocery bags. "Hey you two." he said, walking to the kitchen. "Dad!" Stiles said, running to the sheriff in unease. "Dad something's wrong with mom." He said, grabbing his fathers leg before turning back around to his mother.

Claudia began laughing "What are you talking about? Honey I turned around and this boy was standing in our living room. He wont tell me where his parents are."

"Claudia... you're not serious."

"What do you mean? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Mr. Stilinski put the bags on the floor, grabbed Stiles hand, and walked over to his wife. "Claudia please tell me you know who this is." Mrs. Stilinski looked at her husband as if he was playing a trick on her before stating that no, she really didn't know the boy in front of her.

"Claudia why don't you sit down?"

"No I don't want to sit down I want to know what's going on!" She said.

"Claudia, please just sit down." Claudia huffed and sat down on the couch, arms crossed. Mr. Stilinski sat down next to her and pulled Stiles on his lap.

"Claudia- you've been having trouble remembering lately. Among other things. You've been having night terrors and sleepwalking. Honey, the doctors ran some basic tests last week do you remember?"

"I- I think so."

"We're getting a CAT scan next week but as of right now they think it may be some sort of early onset Alzheimer's... Claudia, this is our son. This is Stiles, do you remember Stiles?"

Claudia looked dumbfounded. "Babe I think I'd remember if I had a son."

Mr. Stilinski whispered in his sons ear, and little Stiles jumped up and ran over to get a picture on display above the TV. He came back and jumped back on his dads lap before nervously handing the picture to his mother. In it was a picture of the three of them. In it Stiles looked about four, but it was clearly the same child, and Claudia was beaming at her son in the picture.

"That was the day at the park. You wanted to go with your friend Anna and her daughter Heather. She took the picture that day right after you got back with the kids on the swings. You were laughing so hard as if you, Stiles and Heather had some sort of secret. Turns out they'd fought about who could go higher on the swings and you'd bribed them with ice cream to get along. They acted like best friends after that" Mr. Stilinski said, laughing. Tears sprung to Claudias eyes and she looked from her husband to her son.

"Oh my God, baby how could I forget you?" Claudia said, putting her arms out. Stiles fear instantly vanished and he jumped into his mothers waiting arms. Claudia had tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry baby." She said, holding him tight. "I'm so so sorry. How could I forget my baby boy?" Stiles looked up at his mom.

"It's okay mom. Dad said you're sick, but you'll get better and then we can go get icecream again. Ice cream is good when you're sick right dad?" Stiles said, looking over at the sherriff. Mr. Stilinski laughed, trying to hide his fear "That only for sore throats Stiles."

"Oh... what helps fix this?" Stiles asked. His parents exchanged a look and Mr. Stilinski grabbed his wifes hand. Claudia looked back to her son. "Hmmm lets see. I think it was hugs. Yup! Hugs are a surefire way to make me feel alllll better" She said with a smile. Stiles smiled and wrapped his arms around her neck and nestling his head in her hair. She smiled and rubbed Stiles' back, but her eyes were on her husband. They were sharing a worried look between them as she mouthed 'it's getting worse isn't it?' He looked away, and she closed her eyes. "I love you Stiles." She whispered. Stiles backed up and looked at his mother. "I love you too mommy."

"Mommy? You haven't said that in awhile. I thought you said Heather told you it wasn't cool anymore?"

"Yeah but Heather's not the boss of me. And you like it, so I save it for days like mothers day or sad days like today."

"Oh well how sweet of you."

"I know!" Stiles said, beaming.

"I don't understand." Scott said. "It's worked before, why isn't it now? Do you think it's because we almost got through to him last time?"

"How would the two events correlate?"

"Well Stiles is almost hiding in his own subconscious right? Well we almost broke through to him last time. We almost made him remember. Maybe we freaked him out. Maybe he made himself come here because this was before we even really knew each other. Before I was turned. Which would mean he wouldn't know my alpha's roar because he's not apart of the pack at this point. He wouldn't recognize it."

"That might actually make sense. He may not hear you because he doesn't know to. Which means we have to find a way to get his attention without him hearing us. Maybe physically get his attention? Try to grab his hand or something?"

"But without getting through to him we can't touch him. It goes right through."

"Right. Should we go to another memory?If he's deepened himself into his mind we can't reach him unless he's older right?"

"Not necessarily. Think of it like Mason when he was the beast. He turned into Sebastian, but he was still in there somewhere right? So Stiles is still in this six year old body, we just have to reach him.

"Oh my God Scott that's genius!"

"I mean that's pretty much what we've been saying for awhile now."

"No not that- Mason!"

"Um- what about him?"

"How did we get through to Mason?" Lydia said, looking at Scott expectantly.

Scotts eyes widened. "You screamed."

"Exactly. I screamed. And a banshee's scream when directed at something is an extremely potent force"

Scott smiled. "Well then, try it. Lydia- scream.

And so she did. Lydia took in a breath, thought about everything Merideth taught her, and let it out in a high pitched wail, calling out for the boy they'd been though all of this to find. The person who'd always been there for them. The guy who would go through hell and back for them. The person she wanted to be alright more than she'd wanted anything in the world. "STILES!" Lydia screamed. A wave of pure force washed over the happy family before them, and little Stiles was pushed back against his parents to the back of the couch by the force. Stiles looked at the duo in his living room before crawling off of his mothers lap and walking over. Behind him, a vague outline of six- year old Stiles was still sitting on his mothers lap.

"Who are you?" Stiles said, face scrunched up with puzzlement as he came to a stop in front of his two best friends. "Wait. I know you right? Or I think I do." He put his finger in front of his lips before Scott could speak up. Lydia's relief was washed away as she fought the urge to laugh at short, overall clad toddler Stiles shushing his 18 year old best friend. Along with the fact that Scott obeyed, clamping his mouth shut.

"Stiles." Lydia said, kneeling down. "Come on. You know us. Let yourself remember. Please."

"What if I don't want to remember Lydia?" He asked. His eyes widened and suddenly Stiles started growing. He looked six, then eight, then thirteen, then sixteen, and finally, eighteen. His overalls were replaced with a classic plaid shirt and jeans. He looked like Stiles again. "Lydia?" he asked. Before she could say anything, Scott rushed forward and collided with Stiles, hugging him tightly.

Stiles laughed "Scott? You okay?"

"Yeah" Scott said, backing off and beaming at Stiles with the slightest hint of moisture in his eyes. "What's all this about? Wait- what are you doing here? What happened now?" Stiles said in horror. He looked back into the living room and saw his parents on the couch. His eyes widened in disbelief and he whipped his head back to his friends. "Am I dreaming?" he asked.

"No Stiles- you're not dreaming. Listen to me okay? Something happened- do you remember Malia getting control of her shift in the basement?"

"Yeah I was just thinking about that actually. It must have been a dream though because the two of you were there."

"No Stiles it wasn't a dream. We were really there. We were trying to get you to remember."

"Remember what? Where are we?" he said, staring at his mother.

"Stiles do you remember Theo?" Lydia asked.

"Theo... Theo! Scott I don't trust that guy..."

"Trust me, we don't either anymore. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Uh, I was in the library with Malia. We were reading the bestiary. I'm pretty sure I passed out.

"Stiles that was months ago." Scott said gently. Stiles turned around and looked at Scott.

"Wait what? That doesn't make sense." Stiles said in bewilderment.

"It does actually." Lydia said, and both Stiles and Scott looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Well that had to have been the night Donovan... died, right? That's when everything started going to hell."

"Donovans' dead? What happened?"

"Stiles... you know what happened. You're repressing it for some reason. But you need to remember." Scott said.

"Why is my mom here? This... this already happened. This is a memory isn't it?" Scott and Lydia nodded simultaneously. "But how are you two here? Hell, how am I here?"

"Stiles something happened. To you." Lydia said carefully, remembering how Stiles reacted last time they'd tried to tell him. But then again they had his full attention now- he seemed more aware then any other time Scott had roared. "Stiles you were attacked. By Theo."

Stiles looked at her with doubt in his eyes. "What? This is the weirdest dream I've ever had."

Scott ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Stiles! This isn't a dream okay? Theo kidnapped you. He attacked you and you've been comatose ever since. Stiles we're in your mind right now."

Stiles' eyes unfocused and he began staring at nothing. "Stiles?" Lydia asked, putting her hand on his shoulder. Stiles blinked and looked at her. "I remember. I remember-" he winced "Donovan, and rescuing you from Eichen, getting Mason back, defeating Theo and him grabbing me. I remember everything." he said, wincing. "But I don't remember him attacking me."

"Stiles we need to get you out of here." Scott said. "You have to come back. I need you bro." he said, smiling nervously. Stiles looked back at his parents and turned back to his friends. "Okay. But I need to do something first." Lydia and Scott exchanged a nervous glance but nodded. Stiles went back into the living room.

"Mom?" he said cautiously. Claudia Stilinski looked up at her son standing above her.

"Stiles when did you get off the couch? I didn't even notice." she said laughing. "Those overalls look so cute. You did such a good job picking them out." Stiles looked down at his plaid shirt, realizing that Claudia was apart of his old memory. He could talk to her, but she would forever see him as the six year old Stiles that this memory focused on. "Mom I- I just wanted to say that I love you. And I miss you. So much." His breath caught, and his eyes filled up.

"Oh sweetie! I'm right here it's okay." Claudia said, wrapping Stiles in her arms. Stiles froze, and then hugged her back tightly, looking like he didn't want to let go. "Stiles it's okay. Mommy's going to go to the doctors on Tuesday and he'll fix me and I'll be fine, alright? I'm not going anywhere you hear me? I'll always be here for you." On the couch, Mr. Stilinski looked away, pain on his face at his wife blatantly lied to their son to reassure him. Stiles nodded, knowing she was lying to make him feel better, but loving her for it all the same. Claudia whispered something in Stiles' ear as she hugged him. He squeezed her tight one last time and let go. Tears were streaming down his face.

Lydia looked away, eyes filling up, and Scott grabbed her hand, trying to comfort both of them.

"Bye mom." Stiles whispered, and watched his mother fade back into the memory, settling back onto the couch with Stiles' dad and the vague outline of six year old Stiles from the real memory. Stiles turned to walk back to Scott and Lydia, wiping his face embarrassingly. "Okay how do we get out of here?"

"I don't know, last time it just happened." Scott said, not looking at Stiles.

"Maybe it would help if I remembered exactly what happened. What did Theo do to me?"

"The same thing he did to me." Lydia said. "He used his claws to enter your mind and went looking in your memories."

"But he's not an alpha, so somehow it made you descend into your mind with him, trapping you in here." Scott finished. Suddenly the Stilinski house swirled and a wave of darkness overwhelmed them faster than it ever had before. Scott closed his eyes and grabbed Stiles hand at the last second. This time, Stiles didn't disappear. When the tidal wave of shadows receded, Scott opened his eyes to find all three of them back at the clinic. And a second Stiles was being thrown to the ground by Theo.