Chapter Twelve: Now Everything's a Mess

Song Inspiration: Still By Daughter and Fear the Fever By Digital Daggers

"She was the sound of glass shattering-the sharp ringing in yours ears. The perpetual motion of a spinning ballerina trapped inside a music box. The sad, tinny tune of La Vie en Rose." -She, Lang Leav

"Scott..." She mumbles with a sleepy smile. "Are you real?"


Scott notices her drowsy state, plucking her face between his thumbs and gently rubbing the skin underneath her eyes. Her eyelids are darkened and dewy, exhaustion evident in the dark circles that runs beneath her lashes. Her honey eyes still sparkle at him though, just another reminder that she is here and that she is safe.

"Yes Lia, I'm here. I'm real-" He says, placing her hand on his cheek. She takes her time exploring his face. Her hand is weak and shaking, but with Scott's guidance, her fingers come to rest on his temple. Her hands slide down, gliding over his features: first his cheek bone, then the ridges of his nose, dropping past his cupid's bow down to his lips, and then testing the firmness of his jaw. An awed 'oh' escapes her pink lips and she swipes her tongue out to wet them. How is this state she still manages to look so devastatingly gorgeous he'll never know.

Scott relaxes into her touch, eyes closed and lips pursed while he enjoys the feeling. He'd been so scared that he'd lost her.

Malia's weak smile still manages to leave him breathless. "You didn't think you'd be able to get rid of me that easily, did you McCall?" She grins.

He rolls his eyes, "Nope, not even a little bit. Besides, I wouldn't have let you leave me. Who else is going to bully me all the time and eat me out of all my popsicles?" He chuckles, reveling in her pouty expression, causing him to laugh even harder. She's so cute when she's irritated.

Malia scoffs, "I don't bully you. I just use my feminine woes to my advantage to get what I want and tell you when you're being a dumb ass. It's the new age way of flirting." She giggles, coughing up blood at the strain it causes on her wound. She turns over her shoulder and assesses Melissa's diligent work, whose pretending to not be listening in on their conversation. By the small smile on her face, she isn't doing a very good job.

She winces when Melissa touches the tender skin with an alcohol swab, causing her to cry out in pain. She murmurs through gritted teeth, "That doesn't look very good, does it?" Her voice trails off and her gaze shifts to her hands.

Those sienna eyes shoot up and capture him in her orbit like the crack of a whip. It's this special sense of neutrality he feels at first-before teetering over the edge of recollection to realize that he has found someone who is so much and means so much that it makes him dizzy in a good way like stars exploding before his eyes. Even on days that Scott's not thinking about it, he knows her name runs rapid through his brain in perpetual motion, a once straight line racing freely in a zig zag path. He doesn't know when she became such a big part of who he is; when he started thinking of her needs before his own, or losing sleep wondering what her last thoughts are before she goes to bed. But now he sits in front of Malia with her head in his hands and her heart thumping lazily against her rib cage. His warmth bleeds through his sweater and provides an internal furnace at her disposal. And for this one small moment that stretches into what feels like hours, all he's thinking is, how did I get so lucky- how did I get so lucky- how did I get so lucky- how did I get so lucky-

How did I get so lucky to be in this moment with you?

Scott runs his fingers through her hair, trying to steer her attention away from the grotesque flesh wound that mars her back. Seeing her in so much pain and the fear in her eyes almost brings him to tears. He lifts her chin until her stubborn eyes meet his. "We're going to fix you, Lia. Just don't look at it, okay? Everything is going to be fine. We're going to patch you up and I'm going to take you home and you can have as many popsicles as you want, okay? I just-I just need you to be okay." He states, exasperated and restless. He wipes the sweat from her clammy forehead, "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

He can taste her tears that pour like rain against cool asphalt, hard and unforgiving as they splatter to the ground.

She sniffles to mask them. "I don't want to die, Scott."

The room goes quiet. Melissa falters in her task, lazy fingers fumbling with the instruments as they clatter to the steel lab table.

Theo watches from his spot in the corner of the room, completely forgotten for the moment by Scott and Malia.

Her words rattle Scott in a way that couldn't be undone, couldn't be unspoken, and couldn't be forgotten.

Melissa applies a couple hefty bandages to the expanse of Malia's back, blocking the bloody, skewed view of torn skin and tissue surrounded by unapproximated edges. It was a scar before and it will be a scar again, a new set of insecurities being browbeat into her like a mallet hammering them permanently into skin too far resembling stone.

Melissa breaks the silence. "This should hold for at least a week. For right now this is a temporary solution, but I'll need to have her at the hospital to put in some medical binders to help guide the granulating tissue in forming back together and closing the wound. The creams and herbs should help with the pain and swelling." She explains, laying her hand over Malia's cold one and the girl feels the motherly love seeping into her from the simple touch. "Malia, you're welcome to stay at our place for as long as you need. It would be best anyways so I can check to make sure there isn't any infection present over the next couple of days. Do you want me to call anyone, your dad maybe?" She offers, pushing her coiled curly, black hair out of her face and into a pony tail. She sees Malia's hesitance, "It's no problem, sweetie, really. But if you don't want to tell him just yet, that's fine too." She reassures, her gaze kind and warm. Melissa reminds her a lot of her own mom.

"Thank you Ms. McCall, but that won't be necessary. I'll get around to calling him at some point, I just don't want to worry him." She frowns, uncertainty fogging her eyes. "I like to keep him out of all this supernatural business, it's just better this way." She elaborates, eyeing the door like a fire escape.

Deaton walks in, checking in on how she's doing. "So what are you guys going to do with him?" He asks, pointing to Theo sitting cross-legged in the corner of the clinic with a healing jaw and a few scattered lacerations from the glass cabinet he'd been thrown through.

Scott's eyes narrow in distrust, pulling out his phone and looking for his Beta's contact information. "One call to Liam and I'll have him bring Kira's sword over here so we can send him back to Hell where he belongs." He growls, finally finding the name and about to push the call button when Malia latches firmly onto his wrist.

"Scott-" She begins, a look in her eye that Scott immediately recognized as pity.

He huffs, "Malia, you can't be serious-"

She silences him with a stony expression. "Scott, he saved my life. Yes, he put it in danger in the first place by taking me but he brought me back here to help. That has to count for something, right?" She offers, chancing a glance over at Theo and than back at Scott's sour expression.

He scoffs, jealously simmering underneath his skin. Theo always had a thing for Malia back in the day and the feeling of letting him continue to walk around like he's suddenly redeemed doesn't sit well with Scott. "Yeah, it counts as an opportunity for him to try and get into your pants, Malia." He growls in anger, not taking into account what he had said. Malia looks at him like he'd slapped her, her face twisting in hurt and finally blazing with utter disbelief.

"Scott!" Melissa yells, ready to rip her son a new one. She didn't raise him to disrespect women and she isn't going to tolerate the way he is acting.

His face doesn't lose it's scowl until he sees the wall come up around her again, no sight of his Lia anywhere to be found.

Theo smirks at this new development.

He stutters, "Lia, I didn't- I didn't mean that" He says, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "I'm just mad and not thinking clearly. I've been worried about you all day and Theo's the one who took you and now you want to spare him?" He admonishes, frustration lacing his tone as his teeth clench together.

Malia looks at him like he's stupid. "Remember how I told you I'm here to tell you when you're being a dumb ass? Well this is one of those times, Scott. We save people. We give them second chances, and thirds and fourths and fifths. That's what you've called us to do. So why is Theo suddenly an exception?" She questions, throwing him for a loop.

She juts her chin out defiantly, wild hair and rosy cheeks having nothing on her eyes that stare coolly and collected with an air of indifference. With that indifference comes a bleak hardness, leaving Scott with an ache so deep that he feels like he's losing her as he pleads with her to understand. He's mentally gripping onto her, feeling for any kind of recognition. And he's slipping fast like she's made of glass, falling from this precipice one finger at a time.

"He tried to kill me, Malia." He states, believing that once that would have been enough for her to side with him.

She looks away from him and then her gaze follows back. "I know." She acknowledges.

"But-" He adds, waiting for her to fill in the blanks.

"But- he tried to save me. If he hadn't brought me here, I'd be dead, Scott. Dead, dead. That would be that and you would be digging a shallow grave, having to plan a funeral and pick out flowers, and think of what would be best to say on my headstone without it sounding too much or too little or just plain ridiculous." She cups his cheeks with her hands, "Scott, without him I would be gone. We owe it to him to give him a chance to explain himself."

Scott's brows furrow into one, the hard countenance never slipping from his face. He grasps both her wrists between his large, strong hands and pulls away from her touch as if she'd burnt him. Malia's face falls at his rejection, seeing that he couldn't move away from her any faster as he puts what feels like a world of space between them. From where she's standing, there's oceans separating them now.

"If you want to give him another chance to kill you then that's on you, but don't expect me to sit around and watch." He laments, pushing away from her and storming towards the door. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to your excuses of why you're choosing him over me."

Malia flushes in anger before her body slumps in exhaustion. She sighs, "I'm not choosing him, Scott." She defends, trying to find anything to get him to stay, to just be her Scott again and stop looking at her like she's betraying him.

His sad smile is easily replaced by a harbored gloom and his eyes are cold to a point where there's no getting through to him now.

"Well you sure aren't choosing me, Malia."

Malia. He mostly just used her full name when he's mad at her.

Malia growls and follows after him, her boots squeaking loud against the tiled floor. She catches up to him outside by his motorcycle with some effort and grabs him by the shoulder and forcibly turns him around to face her. "So you're just going to give up? You make it seem so easy to just walk away from me, Scott, and that's weak. You don't see me throwing a tantrum and storming off." She yells full of aggravation before taking a breath and the anger leaves her in spades. Her body has too much pent up feelings of pain and she didn't want to thrust those upon Scott. Her shoulders relax and her voice softens, "I'm not choosing Theo over you. I want some answers, that's all. I just got you back so can you please stop acting like a jealous idiot and come back inside?" She pleads.

Scott holds his ground, a low rumble vibrating in his chest. "All I need to know is that he hurt you once. That's enough for me to want to send him back to whatever torment he reaped for himself, Malia. He made his bed and now he has to lie in it." He demands, his muscles flexing beneath the thin gray sweater.

She quirks an eyebrow, "You're deflecting. You didn't answer the question. Scott. Are you really jealous of Theo?" She asks, finding the idea completely ridiculous. Has he seen himself? Scott is a rugged Adonis: bronzed, chiseled, and rough around the edges with a hint of danger that makes Malia's mouth run dry when she sees him.

Scott moves into her space, the thin sweater pressing against her top and doing nothing to stop the trail of fire from licking at her skin as his warmth invades her body like a wildfire left unattended. "Should I be?"

His dark, intense gaze pierces hers, his chest rising and falling as he fumes in his spot. Without thinking, his hand unintentionally brushes her inner thigh as his arms swing leisurely at his sides and he stills them when he realizes what he's done. His ears are red-rimmed and a blush flushes his neck a faint pink as it works it way up to his cheeks in slight embarrassment.

The action causes Malia's eyes to drift to the veiny hand that's balled up into a fist at his side before they skim up to the contours of his chest and down the v-line of his hips. His gaze scorches her as he follow her appraisal with a wolfish eyes raking up and down her body as well. She bits her lip, coming back up to meet his gaze before it inevitably falls again to the prominent bulge in his jeans. He shifts around trying to hide it, but Malia doesn't want him to. It's been so long since Malia has had sex and she truly misses the feelings. She misses the curling of her toes, the action of being ravished, and the warmth in her belly when the coil springs free and delicious euphoria washes throughout her body. She weeps for the dominance and hair pulling and spanking fantasies that she's only ever dreamed about. All the boys she's been with had been shamelessly vanilla, occasionally peppering her with a few sprinkles. However, she had a feeling Scott would spoil her with words and his tongue, taking her to the peak of ecstasy as she comes down from her high around him over and over again until she's a quivering mess in his hands on top of his soiled sheets.

All this pent up tension and arguing and chemo signals misting off their bodies is making her horny and aching and she can tell it's doing the same for Scott. But they'd already decided to take things slow, more so for her sake then anything. But would it hurt to get just a little taste...

With the prowess of a vixen, Malia snakes her arms around his neck, her height only falling a couple inches short of his own. Her nose glides up his neck until her warm breath tickles the shell of his ear. "Theo can't get me all worked up like my boy friend does, now can he?" She teases.

He chuckles, a small smile tinging his cheeks, "Are you asking me to be your boyfriend, Lia? I thought that was my job and I don't remember asking." He says, playing with her.

Malia growls, "Last time I checked, this is the twenty-first century and feminism lives so you need to get with the program, McCall. Women can make the first move, the only thing is that I'm not asking." She dares, looking up through her lashes at the endearing smile she sees on his face.

He reassures with a wave of his hands, "Oh no no, I'm all for girl power, equality, and all that. Besides, I think it's kind of hot that you aren't afraid to take charge." He beams.

Her lips quirk into a smile, "So you wouldn't care if I walked around with hairy armpits and legs?" She surmises, glancing up to see his reaction, not that she's actually do it.

He grins, "Nah I wouldn't care. Ladies shouldn't feel obligated to shave, they don't have to."

She smirks, "We don't..."

"Free the nipple!" He exclaims.

She giggles, "Free the hairy nipple!" She laughs along with him.

There's still only an inch of space between them and Malia reaches up and pulls him by the collar of his sweater, smashing their lips together hungrily, "It's been too long." She says in a sing-song voice, loving the small growl that leaves his mouth as he cups her cheek with one hand and ferociously clings to her waist with the other. The little nicks at the base of her throat are driving her crazy and Scott senses her sexual frustration blending with his own.

Her tongue laps at his ear lobe and he's a goner, his breath quickening and his arm wraps tighter around her as a groan leaves his full lips.

"Scott..." She mumbles against the sensitive skin, enjoying the hum it makes when she moans.

"M-m-maliaa..." He rasps, knotting his fingers in her hair in order to pull her closer.

She smiles again his throat, "Go talk to Theo, figure out where we're going to keep him for the time being, and then... take me home." She whispers huskily, nipping at the skin there.

His pants are long and strung together like the flying of fingers across piano keys, "Fine. I'll talk to him and see if he can stay with Liam. But if he even thinks about laying a hand on you again..." He says harshly, his sentence falling on an open-ended threat.

"Then I'll kick his ass myself." She finishes, pecking him one more time and swatting his jean-clad bottom, motioning for him to get on with it and go inside while she waits out there by his bike.

He chuckles at her bossiness, but he knows he secretly loves it. With hearts in his eyes, he turns back to face her as he walks backwards towards the clinic's entrance, "You're one hell of a woman, Lia."

She covers her smile with her sleeve, watching him leave, "Don't you forget it, McCall."

Author's Note: Hey guys, so I just want to address something that's been bugging me lately with this story and some of my others. I've put in a lot of effort to get these updates out to you guys which is difficult with my school schedule and assignments and soccer and sometimes it just feels like it's a waste of time when I'm not getting any feedback. I'd really appreciate some detailed critiques/feeback/reviews of what you do and don't like so I know where I should go with the story and what I should stay away from. This was a shorter chapter because I wasn't sure where to go from here without having anyone letting me know what they've thought about the last couple of chapters. Thank you for all those who have reviews or left me a message, your words are appreciated and I want to keep writing this story for you guys. And if you have some time, check out 'Till Forever Runs Out by FlashFics94. Her writing is amazing! Thanks guys, see you at the next update!