When Isaac gets out of bed Thursday morning, he's gotten maybe 20 minutes of sleep total. Everytime he closed his eyes during the night, images of his father danced across his eyelids in the most cruel of ways, preventing him from wanting to keep them shut, let alone being able to.
He tossed and turned, and now he's up, showering, putting on the suit that his aunt laid out for him, because he's not sure what else to do.
By the time he gets downstairs to the kitchen, Clara has breakfast on the table, and there's Stiles, sitting at the table, wolfing down eggs in slacks and a button down.
"Morning." Stiles smiles brightly at Isaac.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Isaac asks. School starts in a little under an hour for everyone but Isaac, who of course, has the day off for the trial and three hours before he's supposed to be at the court house.
"I'm coming with you to court," Stiles states.
"You…" Isaac gulps. He didn't invite Stiles, he couldn't wrack up the nerve to ask the boy to come with him, to sit in the crowd while he tries his hardest to fend off his father, to push the man out of his life for good.
"I mean, if you don't want me to, I won't, but I just…"
"No!" Isaac shakes his head instantly. "I want you to." The words are out of his mouth before he's even really had the chance to think of them.
"Good." Stiles smiles. "Oh, I have something for you." Stiles reaches into the bag next to him and pulls out a small wrapped present with a card on top. "Here." He pushes it across the table at Isaac as Isaac sits down.
"I'm going to go get dressed," Clara states, setting a plate of food in front of Isaac before exiting the room.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Isaac says softly, looking at the brightly wrapped package. He's not used to presents at all - his father wasn't great at gift giving, and didn't care what Isaac needed or wanted.
"Oh, well I didn't so much as get you anything, as make you something. Go ahead." Stiles smiles before scooping another mouthful of eggs into his mouth. "Open it."
Isaac nods and reaches for the package, opening the card first. It's got a picture of a cat hanging from a tree, and says "Hang in there, Buddy," on the front. On the inside, Stiles has scrawled a message.
Isaac,
I know that this is probably going to be one of the toughest days of your life, and I don't know where to begin trying to be there for you, but I want you to know that I am. If it's hard, and you need to lean on someone afterwards, I'll be right there. If it goes great, and you want someone to celebrate with, same story. Just like that plucky little cat says, hang in there buddy, and I'll be there when it's all over.
-Stiles
Isaac doesn't know how to react to the card, so he slides it back into the envelope, and nods his thanks at Stiles, unable to really find the words to speak. Thankfully, Stiles doesn't seem to need the words, and he just smiles in return, gesturing for Isaac to open the gift.
He does so, and inside the paper is a white paper CD holder, and a CD labeled simply For Isaac.
"What is it?" Isaac asks, looking curiously up at Stiles.
"It's just a few songs I found on my computer, I put it together last night, so you could listen to it today - it's...you know, songs that'll help you get through today, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on and so forth." Stiles shares a weak smile with Isaac. "I don't even really know if it's your type of music, or even if that's your thing at all, it's sort of...I mean I made it late, but I just thought that if you wanted to maybe go for a drive, you know, before you have to go to the courthouse, we could listen to it." He nods matter of factly. "It's short."
Isaac pushes the eggs around on his plate, looking at Stiles, nodding. "I'd love that," he says softly.
"Okay. Great. Try not to judge the fact the track list too much?" Stiles smiles, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, handing it to him. "I forgot to put it in there."
Isaac unfolds the piece of paper, looking at the list. It's a lot of songs he's never heard of, but if Stiles made it for him, he doesn't care if he knows the music or not. Stiles made him something to push through, and he's definitely going to listen to it.
For Isaac
1. Carry On - Fun.
2. Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
3. I'll Be OK - McFly
4. You're Not Alone - Saosin
5. Hold On - Good Charlotte
6. Oh Lord - Foxy Shazam
7. Carry You - Union J
8. Ever the Same - Rob Thomas
9. Hold On - Jonas Brothers
10. You Raise Me Up - Josh Groban
"Thank you." Isaac smiles, tucking the tracklist into the CD holder.
"You're welcome. Isaac."
They finish eating in silence. Well, Stiles finishes eating. Isaac mostly pushes the food around his plate for a few minutes before getting up and dumping the eggs, washing the plate.
"Don't tell Clara," he says softly, knowing that she'd worry if he knew that he didn't really eat anything, but he really couldn't stand the thought of eating right now.
"I won't." Stiles washes his own plate. "Why don't you let her know that we're going to take a couple turns around the block, okay? It's less than an hour. You'll have plenty of time to come back and ride to the courthouse with her."
"Okay." Isaac nods, and disappears, returning a couple of minutes later.
He's quiet as he follows Stiles to the Jeep, as he gets in, and leans into the passenger's seat. He hands Stiles the CD, who puts it into the player, and as Stiles starts driving, taking random turns, just going, he lets the music wash over him.
He knows that Stiles chose each and every one of them for a reason, for their themes of pulling through hard times, and having people to lean on. They're songs about strength, and while they don't all fit his situation perfectly, Isaac can see the meaning in each and every one of them, and that really does mean something to him.
By the time they get to the last song, Isaac is feeling a lot of things, but far less so the things he would have expected this morning. He's not feeling anywhere as much fear and anticipation as he was. He feels calmer, cared for, and he's pretty sure that was exactly what he was going for.
The last song isn't like the rest of them, not exactly, but it's beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful songs that Isaac has ever heard in his life.
It's not until the end of the song that he realizes they're parked, and that he's crying.
"Are you okay?" Stiles asks as the car goes quiet, the CD finished.
Isaac just nods, gulping, trying to pull himself together enough to find the words that he wants, but he's not sure that the words relevant to how he's feeling right now even exist.
"You sure?" Stiles frowns, clearly concerned for the other man.
Isaac nods again, taking a deep breath. "I've never had a friend like you, Stiles," he admits softly. "I've never had someone do anything like this for me."
"Well like I said," Stiles just smiles at him. "I'm here for you, buddy." He reaches out, pulling Isaac into an awkward hug over the gap between the seats.
Isaac stays in the hug for way too long, because he doesn't want to let go, doesn't want to pull away from the most comforting force in his life right now, and Stiles doesn't make any move to pull away, because he wants Isaac to truly feel that he's not alone, that there are people there for him.
Yes, Isaac knows that he's got Clara, but she's his aunt, she's family, and while he knows full well that family does not have to care for you, she's his guardian, and she wanted that, though he's still not sure why. Stiles, though? He's just a kid, like Isaac. He doesn't have to be here, doesn't have to be dressed for court on a school day to support someone that he didn't really know a couple of months ago. That's the part that feels so special to him.
"You're going to do great today," Stiles says as they finally pull away from the hug.
"I...I don't know about that," Isaac admits, because he really doesn't. He's terrified of facing his father, afraid of what the man is going to throw at him.
"Yeah, but I do," Stiles says. "You've been over the questions a million times with Mr. Whittemore and my dad, and the judge? He's not going to put up with anything from your father. You're strong, Isaac. You're so strong for doing this, and you're going to do great."
"Thank you," Isaac says, for what feels like the millionth time this morning. "For everything, Stiles."
"Hey, don't mention it." Stiles smiles widely at him. "Now go find your aunt, I'll meet you at the courthouse, and if I don't get to talk to you before them, knock 'em dead, tiger."
"Yeah." Isaac offers Stiles a gentle smile as he gets out of the car. "I will, thank you."
"Hey, wait." Stiles pops the CD from the player, handing it back to Isaac out of the window. "Hang on to that."
"Okay." Isaac takes the CD, and disappears into the house.
He's still a bundle of nerves, but he feels better than he did before driving with Stiles, before talking to him, and he plays the CD in the car with his Aunt on route to the courthouse to keep those nerves down as much as possible. He knows that it's going to be a really long day, but he hopes that that is all it is. One day, and nothing more. One last day of torment at the hands of his father before he never has to face the man again.
A/N Alright, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! The next one IS going to be the court case, so lots of drama...as for the CD, I just sort of went through my iTunes and found stuff, I'm sorry if it's not too relate-able, but I hope that you guys like it anyways!