Author's Notes: Um, I didn't realize it has been so long between updates. Sorry. I also realized I made a mistake in the last chapter when I wrote that Scott was bothering Stiles in the cafeteria before Erica came to sit with him; it should have been Isaac, since Scott and Derek have been avoiding Stiles. Oops. I don't own Teen Wolf, but I sure wish I owned Stiles.

Stiles/Derek/Lydia/Erica *Stiles is getting some lovin' in this story* (Romance/Humor/Angst)

Synopsis: When Scott notices Stiles has the smell of death upon him, everyone must pull together...some to save him and others to love him. After Season 2 Finale.

Warning: Language & eventual sexy fun times. Mature.

Multi-POV

Erica POV:

She gradually started to wake to the noises of impassioned shouting outside the room she was in.

"He's not wanting to leave; he is adamant that until he gets answers, he's not 'moving his lily white ass.' I think it's time we give him what he wants." The person Scott asked this to huffed loudly.

"Oh, I know what he wants, but that doesn't mean he's going to get it. Tell him thanks for staying with her, but he needs to go home until we figure this out. Until I can figure out a way to tell him what's going. You go with him Scott; he still needs protecting, but keep your trap shut if you can. Once we have grilled her on what happened today, maybe we will have some of our answers as to what's been happening to Stiles." She heard a grievous sigh. "Then we'll tell him the truth, and hopefully have some way of fixing all this." Ah, how I love a good old Scott and Derek show of dominance. Some things never change.

With their conversation over, Derek makes an appearance in the room…bringing with him quite a few people.

"You ready to grill me then?" Erica meant for that to come out as teasing and sexy; instead it came out scratchy on account of her voice being hoarse. How long have I been out?

She had only been able to hear the tail end of their conversation, so when nearly the whole pack came into the room, she was astonished. She knew Derek and Scott were at least here, but she didn't think most the pack would congregate on her behalf. It was an intensely positive feeling to know that she had people who cared, though she tried her best to hide it.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Boyd asked, as he knelt down beside her, taking her left hand in his, slowly rubbing his thumb in circles over her knuckles. Isaac gently placed his hand on her ankle comfortingly.

"Better now." Erica looked to her Alpha, and asked, "Is Stiles alright? He grabbed me as I fell; I didn't hurt him did I?"

"No, he is fine. He's stronger than he appears sometimes." She smiled at that comment. Though, a sarcastic twat at times, Stiles, even in his weakened condition, was a potent force. Those who underestimated him tended to suffer the consequences.

"So, you remember what happened?" Isaac asked, and she nodded her head whilst never looking away from Derek.

"How could I—" Erica had to stop, take a breath, and try again. "I thought the bite cured my epilepsy."

"It did. It must be what you came in contact with that triggered the episode. Walk us through what you were doing prior."

"Well, I had convinced Stiles to go for a walk with me, because, frankly, while we were at lunch he looked so pale and lethargic that I was beginning to worry. Or worry more. We had gotten fairly far away from the school. When I was trying to figure out how to coax him into talking with me, which was fucking scary enough, I noticed my hands were shaking, and that's when I fell to the ground into the epileptic episode."

"You didn't touch anything outside or see anyone around?" Boyd squeezed the hand of hers he was holding when he asked.

"No, and I would have smelled if someone was there. It was just the two of us."

Derek then stepped forward to question.

"Okay then. We've established it wasn't something outside. What about before? You said you were at lunch with Stiles. Do you think someone could have slipped you something, maybe something that was meant for Stiles? That maybe what merely induced you to have an epileptic fit, has been causing the damage to Stiles."

Slipped me something? No. I hadn't eaten or drunk anything, either his or mine, so that couldn't be it. Although, I did…

"His tray. I grabbed it for him as we left. That was the only thing I touched, and would be the only thing that no one else but Stiles would handle. That's how it's being done. It's someone that has access to the school."

The energy in the room seemed to electrify at this revelation. They finally had a lead, and someone was going to pay.

Scott POV:

After pretty much forcing an erratic, flailing Stiles to leave the pack den, he'd been unsettlingly quiet. Especially since Scott had been secluding himself from Stiles for the week, and he knew his best friend would have been teeming with questions once he had his chance to ask them, yet here he sat, speechless with his body turned away from Scott, looking out the window. Stiles was…well, Stiles had never been this subdued in all the time since they met.

The ping from his phone informing him of a new text engulfed the silence in the car. Scott seized it out of his pocket, pulling it near the wheel to keep driving while reading it.

"You shouldn't do that, asshat. If you crash, some of us won't be able to reform our mangled bodies."

"Oh, it finally speaks."

Stiles snapped his head around to scoff and look incredulous at his best friend. "Yeah, 'cause I'm the one that's been hiding from his best friend all week, so I don't have to tell him what the hell is going on."

After seeing the text from Derek about what Erica had exposed, Scott was livid. As soon as he was off 'Watch Stiles Detail', he was going to find the bastard who was hurting his friend. Freddy Krueger would look tame compared to what Scott had in mind to do with his claws.

"True, and maybe we can remedy that soon, just…not yet."

"Whatever. Fuck all this bullshit. I'm just tired." He said, leaning his head against the glass looking back outside.

He did look tired. Scott wondered if his outburst back at the den had used up all of Stiles's limited energy, a concept that until recently was unfathomable when referring to Stiles.

Scott pulled in to the driveway to Stiles's house, and before he could even fully park the jeep, Stiles had the door open, and while trying to make it to the front door slipped and fell to the ground.

When Scott attempted to help his friend, he encountered one hell of a resistance.

"I'm not an invalid, Scott. I'm just a little more clumsy than usual, because of the headaches."

"Okay, okay. Want me to get you some more aspirin when we get inside?"

As Stiles picked himself up off the ground he replied, "Damn aspirin doesn't work anymore. Just have to deal."

They made their way inside and up the stairs. Before they were about to enter Stiles's room, Scott had a thought come into his head that it was strange that the bedroom door was closed, as Stiles was always so frazzled that he almost always left his door ajar.

It's then that Stiles touches the door knob and straightaway falls to the floor hyperventilating. Scott falls with him to his knees before Stiles hits his head on the hard wood floors.

Cradling Stiles's head in his arms, he sees Stiles's eyes blown wide, his skin covering itself in a sheen of sweat, and ultimately his body starts to convulse so hard Scott can barely keep hold. He most definitely will leave bruises trying to.

Scott looks up and sees a gooey substance on the handle and a spike of fear runs up his spine and tears cascade down his face as he hears Stiles start to choke on his own blood.

Whilst trying to still hold onto Stiles, Scott manages to retrieve his phone hitting redial, knowing that Derek was his last call.

Derek POV:

Even spending several hours scouring through trash hadn't discouraged Derek's determination, because it had paid off. He'd finally been able to scent out Stiles's awful smelling lunch, being careful not to touch the styrofoam tray bare-handed. While the lunch itself smelled of feet, the tray had only the minute traces of where Stiles and Erica had handled it, nothing else. Yet, focusing in with his werewolf sight, Derek was able to see the traces of residue left behind from what he guessed was the toxin used.

Derek hadn't said anything, but when he had heard Erica's recount of how she had come to have an epileptic episode, he knew that whatever poison that was meant for Stiles wasn't just regular, but of supernatural origins. Otherwise, unlike when she'd come in contact with the Kanima's venom, she would not have had any ill effects.

This was a torturous discovery.

This meant that whoever had the vendetta against Stiles was possibly of the non-human persuasion or, at least, had knowledge of the supernatural.

His phone began to ring, obnoxiously.

"Hold on, hold on." He said to the inanimate object. He climbed out of the garbage before hitting the answer call button.

Once he did, he sincerely wished he hadn't, as he could heard gurgling and crying, and knew his worst fear was coming to light…he knew Stiles was dying.

Unknown POV:

(10 minutes before Scott and Stiles return to Stiles's house)

That werewolf bitch just had to touch Stiles's tray. They were surely going to figure it out now, although, they are too dumb a race of creatures to understand the whole truth yet.

I had sequentially been uping the quantity to Stiles during the past week, and it seemed to be working. He was almost there, almost ready. Maybe one or two more dosages, but that bitch had to fuck it up.

I have to make my final move quickly.

I make my way through his house, touching his things, lingering on the softness of his pillow under my fingertips. 'Don't worry, Stiles,' I thought to myself, 'It'll be SO much better soon.'

Hearing Stiles's jeep approach the house, I laid out my last and most concentrated dose, hoping it will do the trick and left silently to watch from the woods in the backyard.

***Chapter Music Playlist: "The Dragster-Wave" - Ghinzu, "The Wizard" - Bat For Lashes, "Blue Light (Engineers Anti-Gravity Mix)" - Bloc Party, "Breathe" - The Cinematic Orchestra