Playing Doctor
AN: This chapter is rushed. I'm sorry. Real life has caught up with me and is cutting back on my writing time. After Wednesday there will be a short hiatus while I go on vacation. Vegas and CA! ROAD TRIP with the BF! I will try to post on the road but I don't know if I'll be able to upload off my IPad - sorry in advance. See you Wednesday for some Derek loving :)
Stiles cradled the phone in his hands trying not to think of the danger he had just sent Derek rushing into. It was the right thing, saving innocent lives, but it put his mate at risk of getting hurt or worse. He closed his eyes tightly against that thought pushing its dark taint to the back of his mind.
"We need to stop the bleeding." Stiles opened his eyes to find the doctor standing over him with a look of concern. Glancing down at the mess Scott had made of his arm and the ribbons of flesh showing through his torn clothing Stiles had to agree that stopping the blood was a good idea.
Stiles allowed the doctor to help him to his feet. Chris led him to the back of the room and righted a bright yellow plastic chair and half shoved Stiles into it. With brisk motions he rummaged through the cabinets and drawers of the small office pulling out supplies and dropping them onto a shiny metal tray.
"Exactly what are you planning on doing?" Stiles eyed the growing pile of supplies with trepidation. "If Gerard's your father that makes you an Argent. Why are you helping fix me when you belong to the 'kill them all anti-werewolf club'?"
Chris didn't answer right away. Rolling the tray over to where Stiles was sitting he lowered himself to a stool and gently pulled up the torn shirt. Blood oozed from parallel gashes along his rib cage, skin gaping open exposing the flesh beneath.
He filled a small syringe with liquid from a vile that Chris then held it out to Stiles for inspection. "This will numb the area." Picking up the vial between his fingers Stiles rolled it back and forth for a moment, not sure whether to believe the doctor or not.
Scott groaned from where he lay on the other side of the door. He rose, unsteady on his feet, shaking his head to clear away the last of the drugs in his system. Looking over at the two of him his brown eyes widened with horror. "Oh God, did I do that?" His whole body seemed to crumble inward as he whispered, "I am a monster."
"Hey Scott. It's Scott, right? This isn't your fault. That bitch," Stiles shot an evil glance at the husband of the bitch in question before continuing. "She pumped you full of something that made you lose control. This isn't your fault. It doesn't make you a monster."
Scott didn't respond just folded in on himself tucking his head toward the corner. "Crap, just what I need. Trapped with a depressed werewolf and Dr. Moreau. Throw in some flying monkeys and my day will be complete."
"I thought his name was Dr. Venator." Scott lifted his head briefly in confusion. Stiles held back his snort of laughter.
"I guess you don't watch a lot of old science fiction shows. Island of Dr. Moreau is a classic." Chris sniffed in derision.
"I never really watched many sci-fi shows." Scott turned around to face Stiles resting his chin on his knees while he watched the two with wary eyes.
"Really? Not even Star Wars?"
"Is that the one with the pointy ear guy?"
Stiles covered his face with his un-wounded hand. "You my friend are going to join me for a sci-fi marathon when this mess is all over."
Chris cleared his throat, managing to sound bored and annoyed at the same time. "If you two are finished with the best friend overtures, I need to get your cuts sewn up before your alpha gets here and tears my head off."
"I knew you had an alternative motive." Stiles growled. "Why should I trust you? How do I know you are telling me the truth about anything?"
"His heart rate never changed so he's been telling the truth since I woke up." Stiles paused for a split second and then reached out to rip open the doctor's shirt. There was nothing but skin beneath the fabric. Stiles felt a blush burning across his face at the combined looks of confusion and disbelief on Chris and Scott's faces.
Stiles nodded toward the needle and leaned his head against the wall in preparation for the pain. He hissed and arched his back as the needle pierced his skin for the first time but after that the pain around the wound started to dull and fade away.
Chris focused on sewing up the first layer of Stiles' flesh with small neat stitches. Scott moved closer and watched over his shoulder. He used a vibrant blue thread to sew the inner most layer and then switched to a dark black to close the outer gash.
Seeing Scott's interest he explained "The blue will dissolve over time once his body heals around it. It will just absorb into the system. Stiles you will need to have the outer stiches removed in a couple of weeks but I suggest that once we get out of here, you go see a doctor to make sure there is no infection."
"Why do you even care?" Stiles asked as the last stitch was looped and tied off, the extra sutures cut off and disposed. Stiles didn't really care about the answer, just needed to ask the question to make the frantic arm waving portion of his brain shut up and let him rest.
"I've never wanted the blood shed that my family seems to crave. I wanted to find a non-violent solution to getting rid of the wolves but my father took everything I had ever accomplished and turned it into a weapon. I left my family, changed my name, and tried to make a normal life for my daughter and I but there is no escaping my father. Not when he still has a use for you."
"You make it sound like you're in the mob or something." Stiles found he was having trouble tracking; the lights shimmered and wavered while the walls did the hula around him. "Dude," he slurred. "You are totally like a mob family."
It felt like falling into the night sky. The edges of his vision darken except for little motes of light that flashed here and there. Chris' face lost focus, becoming smaller and smaller until the was nothing but the darkness and peace.
The sounds of screams and growls woke Stiles. His eyes struggled to open and there was a strange pressure around his neck. The first thing he focused on was Scott huddled in the middle of the small office looking rapidly back and forth between Stiles and the raging wolf at the door. Stiles blinked again recognizing Isaac wolfed out and holding a slim brunette by her hair, his claws dangerously close to her throat.
It was at that point that he realized that the pressure on his own throat was Chris who held a shimmering scalpel in front of Stiles' nose. From the strain Stiles knew he was going a little cross eyed looking at it.
"Let her go!" Chris screamed. "If you harm one hair on her head I will slit his throat." Scott whined and crouched lower on the tiled floor his eyes never leaving the girl that struggled in Isaac's hold.
"After all the trouble you went through to patch me up and now you're going to kill me? Bi-polar much?" It was like pushing the pause button on the TV, the entire room froze except for the soft hiccups coming from the young girl. "Isaac, let her go please. Dr. Venator isn't going to hurt me. Look, he even patched me up."
Isaac let the girl ease out of his grip. She immediately ran to her father who almost dropped Stiles in his hast to wrap her in the safety of his arms. Stiles bounced hip first on the tile before being scooped into Isaac's embrace. The beta pressed his nose to the crease of his neck and breathed deeply of his scent.
"Who hurt you? Who hurt you?" Isaac rumbled as he rocked Stiles.
"Isaac, I'm okay. You can put me down now." Stiles did his best to peel off the clinging wolf but Isaac seemed to be almost surgically attached. Knowing that struggling was a battle he was going to lose, Stiles switched tactics. "Where's Derek?"
"Derek and Ames are checking the other buildings. This complex is huge. I wouldn't even have looked here if I hadn't seen her trying to unlock the door."
Stiles knew that if Derek came in here while the smell of his blood was fresh and his enemy was cornered with red stained hands that it would end up getting messy quickly. He didn't want their death on his hands or Derek's.
"Okay, we need to move this outside. Isaac, you need to take Dr. Venator and his daughter to the police. Call someone from the pack to meet you there to watch them. I don't trust the rest of their family and I'm sure the good doctor is ready to answer many of our questions."
Isaac looked ready to argue but Stiles over-rode him with a frown. "Scott will help me find Derek and then I can go home. Isaac I need you to do this." Stiles lowered his voice in his best imitation of Derek and Isaac immediately lowered his eyes and nodded.
The five of them were out the door and Isaac had Chris and his daughter half way to a waiting car when Stiles felt a jolt through his bond. Squeezing Scott's shoulder to stop the young beta, he looked over his shoulder just as Derek cleared a building in the distance.
Stiles knew wolves could move fast but Derek was amazing. He had just enough time to wiggle out of Scott's hold before he was being scooped up once again into a wolf's arms.
But it was Derek. His bond hummed with the emotions that flooded it; the relief and angst and frantic worry played along his nerve endings like strings on a guitar. Stiles clung, wrapping his arms around his mate's neck and dropping kisses along his jaw and cheek.
"Stiles, Stiles, Stiles." Derek panted into the skin of his neck, tickling his pulse point with his warm breath. Stiles didn't even struggle to be put down. His mate could carry him bridal style for the rest of his life at this point.
"Take me home Derek. Take me home and never let me go."