Preface
"Miss?" a voice pulled her from the darkness that was holding her down. "Miss, are you okay?"
"What?" she asks, cracking her eyes open.
She slams her eyes closed against the flashing lights. Slowly, she opens her eyes, adjusting to the police lights. A man kneels beside her, concern on his face.
"Where am I?" she asks.
"You're in the middle of the road," he explained.
She tried to sit up, but the man pressed her back down.
"There's blood all around you," he explained. "I don't want you moving until the ambulance gets here. What's your name?"
"I- I don't know," she said, confusion and panic creeping up her spine.
"Do you know how old you are?" he questioned.
"No," she shook her head, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"It's okay," he soothed her. "My name is Sheriff Stilinski. You can call me Noah."
Loud sirens could be heard approaching them and Noah looked up, watching as the ambulance pulled over, parking near them. He looked back down into the deep, blue eyes of the girl that looked around the same age as his own son.
"Help is here," he told her.
She nodded her head. Noah stood, stepping back as the paramedics ran over with a gurney.
"Don't leave me," she begged Noah as the paramedics began to move her.
"I won't," he promised. "I'll follow the ambulance in my cruiser."
"Promise?" she asked, her voice small and broken.
"Yes," he answered without a second thought.
Noah watched as she was loaded into the ambulance before climbing into his cruiser and speeding after the ambulance. Once both vehicles reached the hospital, Noah ran ahead of the paramedics, finding Melissa by the door.
"What's going on?" she asked him.
"I found a girl in the road while I was making a trip around town," he explained. "She hit her head. Doesn't remember her own name or age."
"Poor girl," Melissa sighed, watching as she was unloaded from the ambulance.
"I called into the station asked the deputies to look into any missing persons cases already. They'll get back to me when they find something," Noah continued. "She's a little jumpy."
"Do you blame her?" Melissa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Where is he?" the small voice questioned, sounding close to tears.
"I'm here," Noah said, reaching for her hand as the paramedics passed the rolling gurney off to Melissa. "This is Melissa. Her son is best friends with my son. She's going to take really good care of you while I try to figure out who you are."
"Hi," Melissa smiled to the girl.
"Hi," she whispered back, squeezing Noah's hand.
"I think you might be the same age as our kids," she smiled.
"What are their names?" she asked.
"My son is named Scott. Noah's son is Stiles."
"Two 'S' names," the girl gave a small smile.
"They were meant to be best friends," Melissa joked as they entered an examination room. "We're going to switch you to a different bed so that the paramedics can have their gurney back, okay?"
"Okay," the girl nodded, releasing Noah's hand and allowing the nurses and paramedics to move her over.
Once she was moved, she reached for Noah again. Noah smiled as he took her hand. Melissa let out a gentle laugh before checking over the girl's vitals. Melissa then had the girl sit up, checking the back of her head to see where the blood had come from.
"It looks like you bumped your head pretty hard," Melissa said. "Bleeding stopped though."
"The paramedics stopped it," the girl smiled.
"Good," Melissa nodded. "You have a decent sized knot here, so we're going to keep you awake for a while to make sure you don't have a concussion, but everything else seems fine."
"Mom!" a voice called from the hall.
"That'll be Scott," Melissa rolled her eyes with a smile. "I'll be right back."
"Mom!" the voice yelled again.
"I'm right here," Melissa said as she opened the door. "What's wrong?"
"Stiles hurt his arm," Scott answered.
"What?" Noah asked, leaving the girl alone and rushing to the hall.
"Hi, pops," a new voice responded. "What are you doing here?"
"Working a case," Noah responded, leaving the room. "What happened to your arm?"
Melissa came back into the room and looked to the young girl.
"Is it okay if our boys come in?" Melissa asked. "We need to check Stiles' arm."
"Okay," she nodded.
Melissa waved all the boys into the room, holding the door open. A boy with long, shaggy black hair and a crooked jaw came in first, followed by a boy with a buzzcut cradling his left arm. Noah entered the room last, fussing over the boy with the buzzcut.
"Oh," the boy with the crooked jaw stopped at the sight of her.
"Hi," the other boy said, waving his good hand in greeting.
"Hi," she said quietly.
"Over here," Melissa pushed the hurt boy towards a chair.
"That's Stiles," Noah explained, pointing to the kid that Melissa was now looking over. "This is Scott."
"The two 'S's," she nodded. "Hi."
"What's your name?" Scott asked.
She looked to her lap, not knowing the answer.
"She's a Jane Doe right now," Noah answered for her.
"I hit my head," she explained.
"Well, Dad will figure out who you are," Stiles smiled to her sweetly before looking to Melissa. "How bad is it?"
"It's just bruised," she told him. "How did you manage to hurt yourself this time?"
"We were practicing lacrosse," Stiles explained. "I tried to catch the ball and fell on my arm weird."
"Well," Melissa sighed, "no real harm done. Put some ice on it and you'll be okay."
Stiles thanked Melissa before looking to the girl again.
"What do you want to be called?" he asked her. "You can be anyone you want right now."
"I don't know," she shrugged.
"And you have no clue what your name could be?" Scott asked gently.
"It's like it's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't figure it out," she explained. "I think it has something to do with water though."
"Is your name 'Ocean'?" Scott asked.
"Who names their kid 'Ocean', Scotty?" Stiles asked, moving to the chair beside the bed that 'Ocean' occupied. "Let's think. Not ocean, not sea. 'Cecillia? No, you don't look like a Cecillia."
"Where did you get Cecillia from?" Scott asked, taking the other seat.
"It sounds like sea," Stiles defended. "You try."
"Wade?" Scott asked.
"Wade?" Stiles stared Scott down. "Seriously?"
"You wade through water!" Scott defended.
"She's a girl!" Stiles argued back.
"Boys!" Melissa and Noah said together.
'Wade' laughed at their antics, leaning back against the bed, watching as the boys continued arguing.
"River?" Stiles finally asked, looking back to her.
"Oh, I like that," 'River' responded.
"River it is!" Stiles cheered.
"Better than Wade," River smirked.
"Hey," Scott was mock offended.
"Do you boys mind staying with River while we go back to work? She needs to stay awake for a while since she hit her head," Melissa asked the boys.
"Sure," Scott agreed, Stiles nodding along. "We might need a few card games to keep Stiles in one room for so long though."
"I'll go grab some cards and food," Noah offered. "Behave."
"Noah?" River called as he went to leave the room, causing him to turn back. "Thank you."
Noah smiled and gave her a nod, leaving the room with Melissa following behind him. Later that night, when Melissa's shift ended and she went to check on River and the boys, she found the Uno cards abandoned beside the empty pizza boxes. The tv was on, a black and white horror movie playing on the screen. Scott was asleep, the two chairs pushed together she he was slightly laying down. Stiles was sitting beside River in the bed, whispering trivia facts about the movie on the screen to her. Melissa smirked as she watched them before announcing her presence by clearing her throat. Stiles and River looked over to her, smiling as she came deeper into the room.
"Time to go," Melissa told Stiles, walking over to Scott to shake him awake. "You can sleep now if you want to River."
"Okay," River nodded.
"How long does she have to stay here?" Stiles asked.
"There's a social worker picking her up tomorrow afternoon," Melissa explained.
"Where will they take her?" Scott's sleepy voice asked.
"I'm not sure," Melissa answered. "Not too far though. They'll want her to stay in the area for when they find her family."
"Do you know if dad found anything yet?" Stiles asked.
"I don't know," Melissa shook her head, watching as Stiles carefully removed himself from the bed.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning," he promised River. "I'll convince dad to bring you something from the diner so you don't have to eat hospital food."
"Okay," River smiled. "See you tomorrow."
Melissa led the boys out of the room and River held the button that lowered her bed so that she could lay flat. She got comfortable, lying where Stiles had sat previously, the spot still warm from his body heat. She fell asleep quickly, smiling to herself as she thought about the flailing boy and his asthmatic best friend.