Melissa and the Sheriff were waiting for the pack when they arrived at the hospital. Melissa had a stretcher and a full team already assembled, but the shock in her eyes gave away the fact that Stiles was much worse than Lydia had let on. Stilinski didn't hide his shock as well.

"STILES!" He screamed, rushing over to his son. He did a quick assessment of his wounds and began sobbing hysterically. Two nurses had to hold him back so that Scott could give Stiles to the doctors.

He laid Stiles on the stretcher and they began working on him immediately. Scott looked on in horror. His feet felt glued to the ground as he watched the doctor's rush around his best friend desperately trying to find signs of life.

Melissa finally broke free to move Scott away from the commotion when they heard the doctors yell "There's no pulse! Somebody get a crash cart!"

They wheeled Stiles down a hallway and refused to let anyone else through. Melissa pulled her son into a strong embrace and Scott clung to his mother like his life depended on it.

After a few minutes, Scott felt strong enough to speak.

"I watched him die, mom." He whispered into her scrubs, tear streaks staining his face. "I heard his heart stop." He took a shuddering breath and looked up at his mother's sympathetic face. "It was the worst moment of my entire life. They have to bring him back." He buried his face into her shoulder again as Melissa rubbed soothing circles on his back.

A couple more minutes went by before Melissa sent Scott with a nurse to get cleaned up while she went to go check on Stiles. She promised an inconsolable Sheriff that she would bring them some news.

As soon as Melissa was out of earshot from the rest of the group, she broke down in tears. As a mother and a nurse it was her job to stay strong in front of her son and in front of her patient's family and friends, but this was Stiles. She didn't know if she had enough strength in her for that.

As much as she hated to admit it, seeing Stiles limp in Scott's arms, covered in blood and not breathing, was the most terrifying moment of her entire life. It was worse than when her ex-husband had threatened her, or when she watched Scott tumble down those stairs. At least she knew her son would be okay in the end. He had Stiles to get him through it.

Stiles had been like a son to her since he was 5 years old. She gave him band-aids when he fell down, fed him too much sugar before bed, and consequently stayed up until 5 am hearing him explain the intricacies of Star Wars to an already-sleeping Scott. She held him while he sobbed over Claudia's death and helped him through countless panic attacks. That boy couldn't have been more like a son to her if she had given birth to him herself.

She took in a shaky breath and somehow managed to pull herself together before walking into the operating room, too nervous to think properly.

"Melissa you shouldn't be in here." One of the doctors told her, glancing nervously in her direction.

"I have to know how he is. What's happening? You know how important this boy is to me."

The doctor sighed. "We managed to get his heart beating again but, Melissa, you know as well as anyone how extensive these injuries are and the damage that they have probably done to him. He was dead when they brought him in."

Melissa sucked in her breath and nodded slightly, before turning around and walking back out. She did understand the implications of them and, for the first time ever, she wished she didn't.

By the time she got back to the waiting room, Kira and Lydia had arrived as well. Malia was sitting next to the Sheriff, who was staring stoically at the ground with tears silently streaking down his face.

When she shifted her focus to Scott, she couldn't help but notice how broken he looked. Her usually bright, optimistic boy looked like he was ready to give up and never move again. To say that it terrified her would be an understatement.

Scott seemed to sense her presence because he was out of his chair and by her side before the rest of the group had even registered that the door had opened.

Scott could tell from his mother's face that something was wrong. The Sheriff seemed to pick up on it too.

"Oh God." Stilinski whispered, staring at Melissa with a vacant look in his eyes. "What happened back there? He's gone isn't he?" The Sheriff let out short sobs, but remained more or less composed. "I can't lose him too. He's been my entire life ever since Claudia died."

At the mention of his wife, the Sheriff turned white as a sheet. "Oh my god, Claudia. I promised her that I would look after Stiles. I swore that I would never let anything happen to him." His composure began slipping. "I failed her." He sunk to his knees and put his head in his hands, breathing heavily.

"Stiles isn't dead." Melissa said gently, patting Stilinski on the shoulder.

"He's alive?" Scott's face lit up and he smiled widely, relief flooding through his body for the first time since he discovered the empty Stilinski house.

Melissa nodded but did not share in her son's excitement. She still looked sad, as if she were waiting to deliver the bad news.

"What is it Melissa?" Derek asked, sick of waiting.

She sighed. "When Stiles was brought into the hospital, he was technically dead. His heart wasn't beating and he hadn't been breathing for at least 10 minutes. Probably more. The doctors did successfully get his heart beating again, but he still isn't breathing on his own and he's lost a lot of blood." She looked at each member of the pack individually before continuing.

"Now, even if by some miracle the doctors can get him stabilized and breathing on his own, 10 minutes is too long for the body to go without oxygen. More likely than not, his brain cells, along with other cells in his body, began to die after about 6 minutes." The pack was silent for a long time after Melissa stopped talking.

"So you're saying that Stiles is brain dead?" Lydia asked, her voice small.

"Most likely." Melissa nodded, sadness creeping its way into her heart. "I'm so sorry Scotty." She cried, throwing her arms around her son and letting herself openly cry in front of everyone she swore to stay strong for.

Scott held his mother as she cried. He didn't think he had anymore tears left in his body to cry, so he just stared blankly at the doors that he had last seen Stiles going through.