Chapter 6

The soft squeak of his sneakers against the shiny white floors sounded out of place and intrusive in the quiet hospital hallways. Scott hadn't been able to breathe properly since Mason told him Lydia was here and now as he hurried to find her his footsteps echoed the mantra that ran in a loop through is head Be okay Lydia be okay Lydia be okay Lydia be okay Lydia …

Scott rounded the corner nearing Lydia's room catching sight of her mother in the hallway talking to a couple of doctors, he hears them saying their goodbyes and the doctors walk off just as he reaches her.

"Mrs. Martin, I just heard about Lydia, is she okay?"

Lydia's mother looks so tired, her shoulders rounded as though under a tremendous weight and it is apparent that she has recently been crying. But even under the strain of worrying over a sick child Natalie is still an attractive woman who holds herself with confidence and authority, it is clear that Lydia is her mother's daughter. She sighs when she sees who has spoken, "No Scott she is not okay. What happened?"

"Wha- I'm sorry?" Scott's face reflecting the confusion her question has caused him.

"What happened to my daughter?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know, I only just found out that she was here."

Natalie crosses her arms over her chest and looks him square in the face, "Scott McCall, who always seems to be in the centre of things, are you expecting me to believe that you have no clue what put my Lydia in here, that it isn't in some way connected to you?"

Scott is stunned by Mrs. Martin's words; he didn't think she knew anything about the supernatural world that permeated Beacon Hills. Maybe she didn't, maybe she was just guessing, trying to find answers anywhere that might help her daughter. Even if it is a guess though could she be right, could Lydia be here because of him …

Scott's silence only serves to anger Natalie, "Stay away from my daughter!" she shoots at him like a drill sergeants order.

Conversation over she turns away from him to go back into the room when Scott grabs at her arm to stop her, "Please I need to see her!"

Natalie whips back around to Scott violently shaking his hand from her arm, "No Scott that's enough! It's time for all this to stop, for it to be over for ALL of you! For goodness sake you're just children!"

The force behind her words causes Scott to take a step back from her but he can't leave Lydia when he is so close to her, she is pack and she needs him, he has to make her mother understand, "Please -"

"It's done Scott! My little girl is lying in that room broken while her friend sits in another room down the hall waiting to see if his father will live or die, so I am stopping this now and choosing to do everything I can to save my daughter. If you were any kind of friend you would be down the hall doing the same for Stiles." And with those words she turns away from him and heads into Lydia's room closing the door firmly behind her.

Scott doesn't know how long he stands there frozen to the spot, trying to process what he has just heard. She knows. And Stiles is here. Scott's stomach twists with dread as her words replay in his mind "… waiting to see if his father would live or die …" Without making a conscious decision to, his feet start walking slowly down the hall in the direction Mrs. Martin had motioned to when she spoke about Stiles. He tries to convince himself he is sure that she has made a mistake but his stomach knows better and soon enough he is stopping outside another hospital room with the patient name 'Stilinski' written in black by the door.

Inside the clinical room the sheriff lies under white sheets, his chest rising and falling in time with a whooshing sound coming from one of the machines he is connected up to and next to it another machine emits a repetitive beeping sound as it's display dances to the rhythm of the unconscious man's heartbeat. Stiles sits next to his fathers in one of the uncomfortable visitors chairs, his head resting on the bed as he softly dozes, his dad's hand clasped tightly in his own.

As he takes in the scene before him Scott's breathing starts to become laboured, his oldest friend might lose his father and he hadn't been there for him, just like he hadn't been able to be there to save Hayden, or comfort Liam, or protect Lydia … it was getting hard to breathe … just like it had been hard for him to spot Theo's deception and his pack had paid for that … he couldn't get enough oxygen … and he didn't know where Deaton was, and he didn't know where Malia was, and he didn't know if Kira was okay, and he didn't know if Stiles' dad would be okay, and he didn't know how to help Stiles … how to help his brother … Scott was starting to feel light headed, he stumbled back from the doorway and against the wall, a shaky hand reaching into to his pocket and pulling out his inhaler.

Leaning against the wall for support Scott takes deep drags on his inhaler and closes his eyes as he focuses on filling his lungs with air. When he feels like he can breathe again he sinks into one of the visitor chairs that are sprinkled along the side of the hallway and drops his head into his hands utterly defeated. This was all too much; he didn't know what do to. His mother's face filled his mind, her warm smile, her shining eyes full of confidence in him, and he could feel his wolf scratch at him beneath his skin, focused on one single word,

PACK!

Pack was what mattered and he was the alpha, with this thought clear like crystal in his mind Scott pulled out his phone and started dialling a number, as the phone rang one name lit up on the display,

DEREK.