"What's wrong with Stiles?" Aria marches into Scott's home, seeing him sitting on the couch, idly watching TV. He bolts up at her unexpected presence, "What happened when I was gone?" Scott just keeps looking at her, "Please, tell me."
He explains it all to her, the sacrifice, the anchor, all of it just to rescue their Dad. Aria sits on the couch, idly playing with her fingers.
"A door? A door was left open? How do we close it then?" Aria asks, staring at him intensely.
Scott looks at her sadly, "Uh, we don't know. But Doc is going to figure it out."
"Really? We're trusting a veterinarian with our problems?" Aria snaps at him, she stands up quickly, pacing. "Stiles, Stiles isn't okay. He's.. he's.." Aria swallows hard, "He's showing the same symptoms Mom did before she died. I-I can't lose Stiles, do you understand that? I can't!"
Scott stands up, "Hey, hey. You'll be okay. He'll be okay." Scott rubs her arms reassuringly, "You're freezing."
"That tends to happen. So it's not just him, it's you and Allison too?" Aria asks hesitantly, "Why aren't you guys getting it as bad as him, then?"
Scott stops rubbing her arms, scratching the back of his head, "We were, at first, but it kind of.. faded away."
"And seeped into him? Is that it? What do we do, we can't wait for this.. veterinarian to figure it out for us because he obviously isn't figuring it out. This is my brother, we're talking about, Scott." Aria's shaking and she can feel the hysteria rising in her voice. "My brother." She repeats.
"Hey, don't cry." Scott says, grabbing her elbows again, leaning down to her eyes, "Everything is going to be okay. Stiles, is going to be okay. You have to be strong, for him. We'll get it figured out."
Aria nods slowly, she hadn't even realized she'd been about to cry. "I just don't want to have to go through it again." She whispers.
He hugs her close, kissing the top of her head, "You won't have to."
Aria comes home to see Stiles passed out on the couch. For the first time in a week, she realizes, Stiles is sleeping. Aria grabs a blanket and lightly puts it on him, which he immediately cuddles up with. Aria smiles, placing a light kiss on his head before heading upstairs.
Her phone chimes with a new text, Will be home late, don't wait up.
From her Dad. She ignores the text, turning off her phone and setting it onto her desk. Aria sits down on her bed, having flashbacks of her mother, pacing their house in the middle of the night. Whispering to no one at all. Becoming so irritable, irrational, barely sleeping. She remembers the light falling out of her mother's eyes. She has a flashback of sitting on her bed as her mother walks in.
"Why are you still up, little bird?" Her Mother had hissed.
Small seven-year old Aria glances up at her, "I was worried."
"About me?" Her Mother asks, her face falling from its usual hysteria, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Go to sleep. You need sleep."
Little Aria nods, not having a clue, as she lays her head against her pillow, that her mother was beginning to lose herself. Aria returns to the moment, putting her face in her hands.
"Aria? Sweetie?" She glances up to see her Mom, Claudia, standing in the doorway. Her hair is wild just as her eyes are. Her eyes a nice green just like Aria's. "I have to leave for a bit, run an errand."
"Dad said you weren't supposed to go anywhere." Aria says along with her younger self.
Her Mother crosses the room, kneeling down in front of Aria, stroking her cheek, "Lets keep this a secret between us, okay? You can keep a secret, can't you? My little bird?"
Little Aria nods, "Yes, Mommy."
Her Mother turns, about to leave, but little Aria stops her.
"Mom." She says. Then older Aria joins in with the small child, "I love you." They say in unison.
Her Mother smiles affectionately, "I love you too, little bird."
Aria smiles down at her lap, then glances up when she sees little Aria arguing with her mother. Little Aria slams the door in her Mom's face. "It's real!" The small child shouts, jumping onto her bed and grabbing her favorite stuffed animal, "I promise, Mom." Tears are falling down her cheeks.
Older Aria gets up, opening the door to see her Mother in the hallway outside of her room. It's dark but the lamp from her room lights the hall, her Mother is crying and biting her fingernails, while shaking.
"I don't know." She's repeating like a mantra, and she can't stop. Then she's screaming it and Aria can see her Dad run in and guide her Mother away from her room.
Little Aria is screaming in her bed, holding her hands over her ears. The scene cuts to another one, little Aria standing in the doorway with the door open. Aria walks around the two.
"Why can't you get better?" Little Aria asks, hope lighting up her small voice. "You can get better, can't you?"
Her Mother shakes her head, sad tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm afraid it doesn't work like that."
"I love you." Little Aria takes her mother's hand in hers, stroking it, "I love you, Mom."
Her Mother looks down at her, "I know, sweetie."
Aria goes back and sits on her bed, watching the scenes unfold around her. The screaming fests, the tears, the advice. The hugs, the cries of victory, little Aria pumping her fists into the air when she does good on a spelling test. Her Mother looking so proud of her. Her Mother keeps running around her room. Various expressions changing in each cut scene. Aria sits on her bed, watching it all unfold, hot tears running down her cheeks.
"This isn't Stiles's fault is it?" Little Aria asks her Mother.
The scene completely cuts and Aria glances up to see her Dad in the doorway. This time, not a scene.
"Aria, are you okay?"
Aria glances up at him, looking at the clock to see it's nearing 5 AM, she shakes her head, wiping the tears off her face, "I'm fine." She reassured him, standing up. He watches her with increasing unease.
He's about to turn and leave, his back is still to her, "You were thinking about your Mom weren't you?"
Aria stares at his back, her lips dry, "I can't help it." She whispers.
He turns around and he hugs her, his father-like warmth enveloping her, "She'd be so proud of you." He kisses the top of her head, rubbing the back of her shoulders furiously, "She's in a better place, Aria."
Aria nods, "I know."
Aria goes to school, sitting in her Chemistry class with Lydia. She glances over at Lydia every so often, "Hand me the phosphorus please."
Lydia hands it over to her and Aria quickly pours it into their solution. Aria sighs, watching as the solution turns from a vivid blue to a clear white. Lydia holds a pencil up, "Yippeee. How much longer do we have to act like we're little kids? I mean really, lets burn some skin off already." Lydia says with a smile.
Aria's mind is completely wandering, she turns to Lydia, "Something's wrong with Stiles and I can't help him."
Lydia dumps their solution down the sink, "I'm sure he's fine. He's Stiles."
Aria turns towards her, "No, no he's not. He.. he died and he brought something back with him, Lydia. He's not just Stiles anymore." She protests quietly, "You should have saw him last night Lydia.."
"Don't worry, Scott is probably working on it." Lydia reassures, "How are you though? You look tired. Did you get any sleep?"
Aria shakes her head, tapping her pencil in a rhythm against her desk, "No, I was thinking."
"You should go home early, and sleep." Lydia scribbles down the answers on her worksheet, "You aren't looking so good, and I say that as a concerned friend, not as a critic."
"I can't go home. I have to be here. I have tests and.. stuff to do, okay? I just, I can't." Aria protests, scribbling answers on her worksheet as well, "I don't know what to do. I just, I blame myself."
"Why? You weren't even here."
"That's why. If I'd been here, do you really think I would have let Stiles.. kill himself, or sacrifice himself - or whatever the hell it is." Aria asks Lydia.
Lydia turns to her, a serious expression on her face, "No, I think you would have gone under yourself. Then you'd be the one flying off the handle, not him. Your Dad was in danger, Stiles saved him."
Aria nods, agreeing with Lydia, "He did, didn't he?"
When the bell rings, Aria bumps into Scott in the hallway. His arms are full of papers.
"Ah! Just the girl I was looking for. Here, here are some more notes about the Stiles thing." He shoves them all into her arms, "A friend found some stuff about it for me."
"Who?" Aria asks, flipping through the material. "Allison?" She guesses.
"Uh, no, Kira." Scott says.
Aria looks up at him, "Damn, you move on fast."
"Well, she moves on pretty fast too." Scott nods opposite the direction Aria was facing. Aria turns around to see Issac and Allison talking. She shouldn't feel jealous but she does.
Aria scoffs, "Yeah. He.. she does." Aria glances down at the papers in her arms, "Uh, thank you, or uh, thank Kira for me." She holds them up, "Got a lot on my plate tonight. See you around, Scott."
Scott nods, giving her a pat on the back as she walks away.
Time to save Stiles.