A/N: Holy crapola. This chapter took fooooreeevvveeerrr! And I am so sorry to all of those who have been looking forward to it. I actually wanted to get it done by May 4th at the latest so I could say May the 4th be with you (Thank you lord kiras hand for putting that in a review for my new fic Plaid Cotton Pajamas).

~sigh~ So, again, sorry this took so long!

WARNING!: Overall fic has graphic depictions of gay smut and self-harm

DISCLAIMER: I don't own characters or Teen Wolf, just the plot, ooooh the plot!

ENJOY!

Chapter 14

The room was still dark when he opened his eyes. The first thing he registered besides the darkness was the fact that there was no warmth beside him and that he was still alone. It was strange how quickly he'd come to need Derek's presence. Pushing aside those feelings Stiles sat up, staring out his dark window at the starry night sky. The power was still out which meant his clock was dark so he had no idea what time it was. His cell phone was still in the pants pocket of his other pants lying on the floor but he didn't want to get out of his bed yet.

It felt so weird to Stiles, being alone again. The presence of Derek and Scott and Isaac had become a shocking comfort to him and he realized just how much he'd come back out of the shell he'd shut himself into. He was a fool to have come out of it. That shell had protected him from these harsh feelings welling up unwanted inside of him. Hurriedly he began pushing away all those painful, uninvited feelings. He didn't want to start off the day with a panic attack.

Pushing back his covers he swung his feet over the side of the bed and stared at the ground for a bit before finally standing up. The carpet was slightly rough on the pads of his feet and he couldn't help but compare it to the cold, hard concrete at Derek's place before he caught himself and swept those thoughts aside. He walked over to the window and peered outside. It was calm and clear which brought a certain level of relief to his aching mind. The snow was still piled high but the roads had lost that icy shine. Stiles leaned against the sill and continued to stare out into the dark for a while, not counting the hours, but it was long enough for the sun to start tinting the horizon in blues and purples. Before the sun could color the sky cotton candy pink and orange Stiles yanked the blinds closed and shut himself off from the cold world.

His backpack dug into his side when he sat on the floor so he quickly tugged it out from behind him and unzipped it, pulling out the package he'd forgotten about last night. The thing was small, only an inch thick and a few inches long. He shook it and something rattled inside. Quickly he tore open the end of it and upturned it into his palm. A smooth card only a few inches long slid into his hand. It was too dark to really read what was on it so Stiles stood and walked across his room to flick on the light. The room was suddenly illuminated and it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust before he squinted at the card in his hand. It was a blank white card on one side but when he turned it over a violent red #5 had been painted on the pristine surface.

There's a knock on his door and he's startled out of his confused staring. He quickly tosses the package and card onto his desk and opens his door to reveal his dad standing there with severe bedhead.

"Hey dad, what's up?"

"I saw your light on and I was surprised you were up. Is everything alright?"

Stiles nodded quickly. "Yeah everything's fine. I went to bed early so I got up early. Nothing's wrong."

His dad stared at him for just a bit longer before nodding his head. "Alright, if you say so son. Want to join me for breakfast?"

"Sure. Let me grab my blanket and I'll be right down."

Papa Stilinski nodded and left him to grab his blanket, going downstairs and was rifling through the pantry when Stiles joined him.

"So, when do you think the snow'll melt?" Stiles asked as he watched his dad pull out random stuff from the pantry.

"Can't really say. It was so long ago since we last had a snow storm but I doubt it'll take very long. California is a warm state."

"That's true. Hey, pass me the can of peaches over there in the corner."

Again they sat at the kitchen table munching on random food. The sun illuminated the room slowly with soft orange light and Stiles could feel the warmth soaking through the blanket and into his skin. If it weren't still so cold outside he'd go out and bask in it. Their meal was finished in companionable silence until the Sherriff stood up and pointed towards the garage door.

"I think it's time to bust out that shovel."

Stiles sighed but nodded. He didn't really want to since he was still physically and mentally exhausted from the previous weeks but there was nothing else to do and he didn't want his dad to be the one doing the shoveling. Stiles stood from the table and tossed his can into the full trash and the fork into the full sink. He'd have to take care of those later too. The door to the garage gave a loud squeak as it opened since they never really went in there and the light switch was covered in cobwebs.

Dust was settled over everything in the garage. Boxes lined the wall and as Stiles surveyed the room his eyes alighted on the handle of what had to be the shovel in the far left corner. Carefully he picked his way over knick knacks and random things from Christmas decorations to lawn equipment until he was finally able to grab the handle of the shovel. Quickly he yanked it free of its cobwebs and hopped back over to the door, shutting off the light on the way out.

"Oh good you found it." His dad said as he trudged into the living room with the shovel held a few inches off the ground.

"Should I start at the front door?"

Stiles' dad nodded as he thought. "Yeah that's probably the best place to start. I don't want you climbing through your window again. That's dangerous. You hear me?" he said, pointing his finger at Stiles but there was no real heat in his voice.

"Gotcha. Won't happen again."

Stiles was glad his dad wasn't a werewolf to detect that lie but even so, his dad was a smart guy and probably knew that Stiles would do it again and probably in the near future. However, he refrained from saying so and Stiles walked out of the living room and down the hall to the front door, unlocking it and yanking it open. A wall of snow met him and he sighed, this was going to take a while.

He didn't want the snow to fall into the house so he started from the top and began pushing the snow backwards with the back of the shovel. It was hard on his arms since the muscles had atrophied with disuse after only about thirty minutes of working. Yet he continued, not really caring that by the time that he'd cleared a path to the driveway that his arms were screaming at him in pain. He was shivering with cold but as he stood in the sun he realized that his dad was right, it was going to get a lot warmer really fast now that there's nothing keeping the weather cold.

Putting the shovel against the side of the house that he'd cleared Stiles went back inside, calling out to his dad. "I think I'm done for the day. I got to the driveway."

"Ok, I'll do some shoveling as well. I want to at least dig the cruiser out." His dad called from the living room.

Stiles didn't answer since he knew his dad wasn't expecting one and went back up to his room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He stood there with his back pressed against his door for a few minutes, not sure what to do, before heading over to his desk and booting up his laptop which worked without internet or a cord and just ran on battery life. The glow of the screen lit up the surrounding area as he sat in the desk chair and put in the password.

Over the next few hours Stiles starting doing all the homework assignments he'd missed while he was 'sick'. There was so much that he'd missed that by the time that he'd finished all the work for his English class there were more than a few word documents cluttering up his desktop. His math and Econ didn't require the computer so he shut it down again and pulled out his Calculus textbook to get started on that.

Hours went by and afternoon turned to evening and soon he was sitting in the dark unable to read a thing but his mind was off somewhere else, somewhere he longed to be but wasn't. He couldn't help but wonder what Derek was doing and if he thought the room was too quiet now that Stiles was gone. Maybe he was glad Stiles was gone. Maybe the entire time that Stiles had been there Derek had wished him gone. But he wouldn't have done those things to him if he'd wanted him gone, would he? There were so many questions he didn't have answers to.

"Stiles? You want anything for dinner? I'm sure I can find something."

Papa Stilinski's voice startled Stiles out of his deep thoughts and he looked up to see himself completely encased in darkness save for the moonlight coming in through the window.

"No thanks dad. You go ahead and eat. I'm really tired so I'm gonna head to bed. Love you!" Stiles called without moving from his spot.

There was some shuffling from behind the door before Stiles could hear the long sigh his father let out.

"Ok son, good night. I love you too." And then his footsteps were shuffling away.

Stiles let out a breath and got up from his chair to flop down on his bed. There was so much going on in his mind yet he could feel his body shutting down. It scared him at how cold he seemed to grow when the heat of Derek wasn't there any longer. Even Scott's presence would have been appreciated at this point but there was no way to contact either of them with the power out and the phone lines down. He'd just have to wait. That scared him too.

The night passed quickly and even though Stiles managed to sleep a couple of hours he woke up just as tired as he'd gone to bed. Now not only was he sore from yesterday but his head was pounding and his skin felt achy. There was a hot, tightness in his throat and he knew immediately he wasn't getting up that day. When his dad came in to wake him up in the morning he saw the feverish flush and sweat shining on his skin.

"Aw Stiles, how can you go running around with wolves only to get sick with a little snow shoveling?" Papa Stilinski muttered and Stiles let out a gross cough in response.

And that's how Stiles stayed for the next week, hacking and coughing and shivering under his blankets. He barely ate anything his dad put in front of him and what he did eat would resurface later into a bowl settled at his bedside. The days blended with the lights after his dad had drawn the blinds at Stiles insistence after developing a pounding headache that the light didn't help. After a week the sickness (he wasn't sure if it was a cold or the flu or whatever) had mostly settled down into a dull ache on his skin and some pain in his throat and head. There was nothing in his stomach to heave up since he'd refused to eat anything after the third day. His father was constantly checking on him and leaving him food which he immediately shoved back.

Stiles slowly sat up in bed, feeling the cool air wash unpleasantly on his gross, sweaty skin. Groaning he carefully pulled himself up on wobbly legs and used baby steps to get to the door. The world was spinning slightly when his hand closed over the door handle and twisted it open. He came face to face with his dad whose hand was curled into a fist and poised to knock.

"Stiles! Should you be out of bed?"

"Shower. I feel gross." Stiles sniffled, leaning heavily against the door.

He'd thought he was getting better but for some reason just that short trip to his door made him feel sick all over again.

"Yeah, a shower might do you some good. Get rid of the funk clinging to you."

Stiles gave a weak nod and held out his hand which his father immediately took and let himself be guided to the bathroom. As soon as they'd made it to the bathroom Stiles collapsed beside the toilet and dry heaved into the porcelain bowl. Nothing came up except a small bit of acid and Stiles was left with aching muscles from all the heaving. Papa Stilinski had knelt to rub Stiles' back as he turned on the water to run a warm bath for him. Stiles felt a rush of love for his father then sadness that he didn't feel that way about him all the time.

It took a while but soon the bath was almost full and Papa Stilinski shut off the water and helped his son off the floor. Stiles wanted to protest at being handled like a baby but couldn't even bring up the energy to try. Papa Stilinski managed to drag off his shirt and pajama bottoms before Stiles pushed his hands away.

"No, leave them on. I need to keep what little I have left of my pride dad." Stiles joked, his mouth pulling into a thin, watery smile.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll still be manly even if I do see you're man bits. I did raise you, you know?"

Stiles huffed and managed to pull a mock upset face as his dad finally rid him of his underpants. In all honesty Stiles couldn't even lift a finger and was extremely grateful that his dad was even doing this, especially since he was already at this age. When he was finally settled into the tub he sighed and sank into the blissfully warm bath water. His dad flushed the toilet and sat on the lid, staring at the wall so he wouldn't make Stiles even more uncomfortable and Stiles was extremely grateful for that too.

"So, where'd you get the scar on your chest?" Papa Stilinski's voice broke the silence after a few minutes.

Stiles had been drifting off in the water and was slightly startled by the sudden noise.

"Uhm, that one's a long story and I'm too tired." He deflected rather nicely.

"Then what about the one on your side? Or the two on your back and one on your leg. Why do I never hear of these? I want to know when you need something, especially medical attention."

Stiles sighed. "I would say that I'll tell you next time but that would be a lie." Stiles hated the little flinch his dad did. "I hate it when you worry about me just like you hate it when I worry about you. I'll heal from these things dad, even if it does take longer than a stupid werewolf."

They were both silent for a really long time, long enough that the water started cooling off until it was just warmer than room temperature. Stiles had been thinking about a lot of things but as soon as the fact that he was lying in water made it to his brain he snapped his eyes open and looked at his dad then at the bathroom. The light was on.

"When did everything start working again?" he asked.

His dad broke out of whatever thought he'd been engulfed in to look at Stiles then at the lights above the sink.

"Last night I got a call from someone from the electric company that said everything should be functioning again and to give them a call if something isn't working and they'll fix it."

"Oh, ok, that makes sense. So the phone lines are back up too then." Stiles nodded and opened his mouth wide in a yawn.

"Alright, I think you've had enough time to prune up. You feeling any better? You're talking more."

Stiles took quick inventory on his body before giving a slow nod. Now that he didn't feel gross and had washed away all the germs that had gathered he was feeling a little refreshed.

"Yeah but I still don't feel very good so I think I should stay in bed just a little longer."

"After I change the sheets then. Your bed is nasty. I'm going to air out the room too so until then how about you go downstairs and find something to eat then settle onto the couch."

Stiles nodded and allowed himself to be helped out of the bathtub and into a towel. It took a bit to dry himself off since he was completely unbalanced by the fever but eventually he managed to wipe himself free of most water. His dad had left to grab him a fresh change of clothes and was glad to put on some clothes so he wasn't naked in his father's presence anymore. He just knew that as soon as he could think again he'd be properly mortified but at this moment he couldn't bring himself to care very much.

The stairs were more difficult than he'd thought they would be and ended up scooting down them on his butt taking each stair slowly. Eventually he made it to the couch and collapsed into the cushions. He could faintly hear his father slamming shut the washing machine and the sound of water being pumped into the barrel. He must have dozed off after that because the next thing he was aware of was the flickering of lights behind his eyelids. When he opened his eyes he was greeted by a silent baseball game on the flat screen TV his father had indulged himself in.

"What time is it?" he mumbled, wiping sleep from his eyes.

"A little after eleven. You feeling any better?"

Stiles swallowed a couple of time to rid himself of the sour sleep taste. "Um, yeah. Just a little I guess. I need to call Scott."

"You want me to grab your phone?"

Stiles shook his head and sat upright, ignoring the dizziness. "Nah, I should sleep in my own bed so you don't catch whatever it is I have."

"I'm sure I'll be fine." His dad said but didn't stop him as he carefully got up and slowly made his way up the stairs and into his room, silently shutting the door behind him.

His bed was made nicely in a way that only parents seemed to manage and he let himself flop onto it, his hand already reaching out to grab his phone from the nightstand. When he tried to turn it on the screen stayed black and Stiles groaned, reaching onto the floor and fumbling around until he found the charger and plugged it in. It took about a minute for his screen to come up and a few more minutes for messages to start coming in. There were three texts and one missed call from Scott and one message from Isaac but that was it. They'd all been sent the same day the power had been turned on.

Quickly he dialed Scott's number but was immediately met with a dial tone which meant it was occupied. So he sent a quick text to him telling him that yes he was fine, no he hasn't heard from Derek, and no he hasn't heard from Allison. Isaac's message was just to ask if he'd heard from anyone (obviously Scott had asked him to try messaging him) and he sent him a quick message telling him he hadn't. After those messages had been sent he opened up a new message to Derek and stared at the white box for a while, the letter line blinking at him until the screen went black from inactivity. There was a twisting in his stomach as he pressed a button to bring the screen back up and quickly typed out a message and sent it before he talked himself out of it.

Hey so the powers back on. R u doing ok?

Regret set in immediately after it was sent but he pushed it aside since sickness induced exhaustion was dragging his eyelids shut. There was no room for thought in his fever muddled brain so he simply didn't, settling under his clean covers and immediately falling asleep.

When he woke up in the morning bright sunlight filtered in through the open window and a warm breeze was making his pulled up blinds clank back and forth against the glass. His head was strangely clear and didn't feel like it was going to explode. His skin didn't ache anymore and his stomach actually gave a quiet grumble. The phone was pressed against his arm and left an imprint when he tugged it away. The screen lit up and revealed he had one message from Scott saying he was getting worried about Allison but that was it. Disappointment fluttered through him briefly at not seeing a message from Derek but it was quickly swept aside.

Once he was dressed in his usual clothes of jeans and a t-shirt with a plaid long-sleeve covering he lumbered down the stairs to find his dad already up and heating up some of the frozen food he hadn't been able to eat before.

"Hey kiddo, there's school today so hurry and grab your backpack."

"Aw dad! I don't want to go today! I'm still sick!"

"You're obviously not now go grab your stuff 'cause I'm locking the door on the way out."

Stiles finally took a look at his dad and saw that he was dressed in his Sherriff's attire. He groaned and stomped back up the stairs to gather his backpack and homework he'd been doing before he'd gotten sick and trudged back downstairs. His dad was waiting by the front door and quickly ushered him out along with a Ziploc bag holding two pieces of buttered toast.

"Thanks dad. I love you. Be safe." He said quickly as they both go into their cars.

Over the week that he'd been sick the snow had melted quickly leaving the street drains full of debris and lawns sludgy. Power crews had gone through every street in the town reconnecting power lines and putting up new ones where they were damaged or missing. A week was rather fast considering how much damage had been done but Stiles wasn't complaining (except for the fact that it meant school started up again).

Scott met him in the parking lot looking frantic, his eyebrows drawn up in worry and shifting his feet from one to the other until Stiles had turned off his Jeep. Stiles didn't want to deal with that at the moment and leaned over to the other seat as if looking for something for a few minutes before pulling his backpack from the floor, leaving the bread forgotten on his passenger seat, and sitting back up. Scott was peering in through his window and had to back up quick to avoid getting his nose smashed against the glass as Stiles opened the door.

"Why are you looking like you gotta shit?" Stiles asked as soon as he'd locked the Jeep.

"You didn't get any of my messages did you? You need to quit ignoring me! There was another body found next to the gym off Riverwood. I didn't get a chance to swing by before school but I'm betting it was the same as the last body."

"You mean the body from the day before the storm?" Scott nodded his head quickly and Stiles groaned. "Dude, I really don't need any more supernatural shit right now. I just got over being sick today and only a week ago I was almost killed by a freakish creature with a god complex. Can we just lay off the dead bodies and mumbo jumbo and let someone else take care of it? Why are we always the ones getting into these messes?"

"Well, who else is going to take care of it if we don't? They're encroaching on our territory, killing people we may or may not know, and we're supernatural so we're most qualified."

Stiles groaned and pushed through the doors of the school and into the throng of students chattering wildly about the freaky storm. Stiles didn't talk again until they were both seated in their first period class and the bell was a few minutes away from ringing.

"Ok, so first we'll need to contact Derek and make sure he knows about this new body. Then we should start sniffing around, for you literally, for anything that could be related to this new whatever-it-is that decided to make our lives a living Hell."

Scott nodded along with everything that he said as if he'd already thought of all that.

"Ok, you contact Derek and I'll start 'sniffing' around for anything new." He made the air quotes obvious without actual making the hand motions.

"Why do I have to contact Derek? Why can't you do that?"

Scott gave him a curious look as if he were crazy. "Well, you two have that thing going on between you, which, by the way, we still haven't talked about." He gave Stiles a stern look and leaned in closer. "Mind telling me what exactly that is? You two were all over each other in bed and that was not something two people who barely tolerate each other do."

Now Stiles was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. "We, uh, we just were… yeah I got nothing. There was absolutely no excuse for that. It just…happened and since he hasn't even bothered to contact me since then I'm pretty sure it was one sided on my part." Stiles said and resolutely shoved away the hurt that threatened to boil up again.

Scott made a short whine in the back of his throat and gave him a look that was half glare, half concern. "He's a jerk. It's a good thing that he stopped when he did. It's just wrong to lead you on like that."

Stiles just grunted in reply and leaned away from Scott as the bell rang for class to start. Scott gave him one more worried look before leaning back in his chair and giving the teacher who just walked in his full attention. The rest of the day was spent dodging probing questions from Scott and Isaac, who joined them at lunch, and trying to concentrate on what the teachers were saying and not on the hurt that refused to be pushed away.

During the last class Stiles glanced out the window simply to check the weather and caught sight of a figure standing near the tree line. He did a double take since that figure looked like a leather clad douche that hadn't bothered contacting Stiles but there was no one there and Stiles simply chalked it up to his overactive imagination and his almost non-stop thoughts of Derek. Stupid idiot. Stupid non-contacting idiot. Stiles sighed and rubbed his hands over his face and refused to look out the window for the rest of the class.

As soon the final bell rang Stiles raced from his classroom but he was too slow and Scott managed to cut him off before he escaped the school. Stiles skid to a halt before he smashed into Scott and knew he must be pulling a grumpy face.

"Dude, what's the rush?"

"Uh, nothing. Just wanted to get home and start researching the police database for anything on the body." Stiles said with false enthusiasm.

Scott gave him a funny look but didn't push it. "Ok. I'll bring Isaac with me while I go search around the scene."

Stiles just nodded and left without another word. He didn't want to deal with anybody right now. He'd been shoving away thoughts of Derek all day and knew that if he continued to talk with Scott or Isaac that he'd eventually come up in a conversation. The pain he felt had begun to meld into all the other emotions he was feeling.

When he reached his Jeep he had to sit there in the seat for a few minutes pushing away the hurt that had swelled in his chest. His arm had long since healed in the two weeks since the last time he'd cut but now it seemed as if those scars were on fire. He pressed his thumb into them to dull the ache to a point where it was bearable. After a bit he was composed enough to jam the key into the ignition and slowly drive back home.

He didn't make a conscious decision to move and found himself on autopilot as he turned his Jeep off and gathered his stuff, getting out and locking the Jeep, unlocking the front door and walking up to his room. He sat at his desk and turned on the little light above the desk, pulling out his homework for the day.

Stiles spent the next four hours ignoring the supernatural issue once again present in Beacon Hills by doing every last bit of homework he'd missed before the storm. His brain eventually switched off of autopilot and he knew he couldn't continue putting this off if he wanted the disturbance gone sooner rather than later.

Quickly he pulled up the police database and started discreetly browsing through all the reports for the day. Eventually he hit upon a new body and pulled up the details. Female, 30, brown hair, brown eyes, 5'5", pretty average in all aspects except the cause of death. The inspection of the body revealed severe internal damage originating from… Stiles averted his eyes and felt horror rise as he registered just what had caused her death.

Quickly he minimized that report and searched for the one from before the storm. There were a lot of reports made during the storm and he had to dig through all of those before he finally found the report for the male's death. Male, 26, brown hair, hazel eyes, 5'10, again, average except for the cause of death which was severe internal damage. Again it seemed like the same cause of death for the female.

Fumbling with his phone where it was stuck in his pocket Stiles speed dialed Scott. He didn't pick up on the first call but after the third ring of the second call his winded voice came through the speaker.

"'Sup Stiles? Got anything for me?"

"Yeah. Why do you sound so winded?"

"I have to run to Derek's since I can't hitch a ride and my bike is waterlogged still. Now on with the news!"

"Ok well, the victims are both really average people with absolutely nothing in common except for how they died. Dude, Scott, this killer is brutal. Whatever is killing these people is raping them to death. Or shoving a jackhammer up their hoohas and putting it to full blast. It's violent dude."

"Oh my…guuuh." Scott made a sickened sound and Stiles had to agree. "I'm almost at Derek's. I'll let him know."

"Ok cool. Tell him to call me. Oh and did you find anything at the scene?"

"Nah, just a bunch of weird smells I can't identify. I found a scrap of the guy's clothing caught on a nail that was sticking out of the side of the building. I'm taking that to Derek since it has that weird smell all over it."

"'Kay. You go do that. And tell him to call!"

"'Kay, see ya."

The line went dead in Stiles' ear and he pressed the end button before turning up the notification and call sound up to high so he wouldn't miss any texts or calls. This whole thing was disgusting and obnoxious. Why couldn't these things just not happen? Stiles sighed at the ridiculous question and closed out of the police database after he'd printed everything to do with the cases. He gathered the papers and hid them among his homework so his dad didn't find them.

It was completely dark outside by the time his father made it home. Stiles had just been sitting at his desk waiting for anything from his silent phone and when he heard the slam of the door he figured he might as well take a break from all that stress. He went downstairs and joined his father for dinner which was store bought chicken. Stiles managed a couple of bites before saying he was still feeling a little sick and he didn't want to test his stomach yet.

His dad didn't bring up the deaths and neither did Stiles since his dad looked like he'd been through a lot during his shift. Papa Stilinski actually headed up to his room first and an inkling of worry needled at Stiles' conscience when he heard the door slam.

That night was restless and the sun rose without Stiles' having gotten a wink of shut eye.

A/N: Soooo, this chapter was kinda boring. Sorry 'bout that. I usually write everything in one night around 12-4 am but my mother decided it was in my best interest to shut off the internet at 11pm. I'm so pissed. ~sigh~ That's what I get for being a 20 year old still living at home. Gotta play by their rules. So I wrote this fic over a long period of time, only a couple of pages at a time.

The next chapter is already in progress so I hope that it'll move faster than this one. I was going through my final week of my college class while trying to write this and it was soooooo difficult! I had like a bajillion things to do.

Enough excuses. Sorry 'bout the delay, hopefully this next chapter is quicker, and I'll try and get the next chapter out for Plaid Cotton Pajamas as well! ~hearts~