Chapter Text
Pine needles.
Dirt.
Rain.
Every inch of his body ached from things he remembered and things he didn’t. His forearm throbbed as he shakily brought it into his line of sight, his mind racing with questions as he’s met with the horrifying reality that he, just like his best friend a few years back had been, had been bitten. Freshly too.
But the more important question that was eating away at him was why did he have no memory of it. He was sure he’d remember something like that.
Shakily, Stiles gets to his feet and proceeds to check his pants for his phone and finds it missing. ‘Great, just great, Stilinski luck strikes again.’
He takes a few steps forward and reaches out to put his unbitten extremity against the tree to steady himself only to be met with an immense amount of pain. Taking a look at his wrist it had to have broken. There were purple bruises around his wrist, restraint marks. Stiles had seen enough of these to know what it meant.
Trying to get his bearings, he starts to look around, leaning up against the tree to look behind him and the first thing he can clearly see is the nemeton.
His breathing starts to pick up and before he could clearly think of a plan he just starts running; fast and as far away from that stupid tree stump as he humanly could. Adrenaline fueling him, making every ache and pain his body felt fall away. He didn’t even know how long he was running for until he found himself face to face with one person he least expected to see in the woods.
Peter Hale.
Stiles skidded to a stop, his feet failing him as he slipped on the wet ground. His clothes clung together in a cold mess. “Stiles, where the hell have you been?!”
Peter's voice was more filled with concern than anger and that surprised Stiles. Peter never really cared for anyone, not even his own family. Stiles flinched backwards with every step Peter took towards him. It wasn’t until Stiles was back up against the tree he unknowingly backed himself into could he see the damage that was done.
Stiles’s skin was littered with bruises and his scent smelled of fear, pain, and adrenaline. The unmistakable bite glistened in the low light of the moon.
“Stiles, I’m not going to hurt you.” Peter explains, “I just want to help.”
Stiles just stares at Peter, the rest of his color draining from his face with each passing moment, eyes wide and breath stuck in his throat. “Stiles you need to slow your breathing.”
Stiles shakes his head, breathlessly states, “I…can’t…”
“I can’t…I cant…” Tears started to fall, “I don’t…I don’t remember…”
It wasn’t before long and Stiles was passing out, his body slumping forwards; Peter lurched forward quickly and grabbed him before he could fall the rest of the way. Reaching into his pocket he pulls his phone out and makes a few phone calls. His first call to the sheriff and the second to his nephew.
After lifting Stiles up off the ground Peter quickly made it to his vehicle and ignored every and all traffic regulations to get him to the hospital. He may have been an asshole in the past but he was trying his hardest to make it up to his family. Well to those that survived. He had a lot to make up for and he hoped that maybe by helping Stiles it would get him going in the right direction.
Walking into the ER with a very injured Stiles in his arms was not a good look for the former alpha. Melissa instantly ran over to him and was shooting him death glare as she helped get him on to a gurney. Granite he and Melissa didn’t really have a good track record all things considered. He watches as Melissa trails after the nurses and doctor as they get to work on helping Stiles.
Taking a seat in the waiting room, he patiently sits there, hands folded almost as if in prayer and keeping his ears trained on Stiles’s rhythmic heart beat. Others soon joined in, sitting near him or next to him. They knew nothing but those that could listened to Stiles’s heartbeat flutter as they listened to the doctor talk to the nurses.
Minutes turned into a few hours and finally a doctor and Melissa came out of the room they had nestled Stiles into and proceeded to explain, “It appears that in some form he has been restrained for a while due to the ligature marks. We will need to X-ray his wrist as it may be broken or just fractured. It's unknown due to the amount of swelling. There is a concerning amount of bruising done to his whole body and there is a nasty dog bite to his forearm and as a precaution we will be running tests and giving antibiotics just in case. Sheriff I’ve got some things I need to speak with you about privately but the rest of you can go and see him.”
The sheriff followed the doctor off to the side while Peter stayed in the lobby, Scott was the first to enter and Lydia soon followed after. The rest of the pack was either on their way or on house arrest (i.e. Malia and Liam due to the incident that happened last week). Stiles flinched a little when Scott entered the room, the entire ordeal made him jumpier than he normally was. Scott and Lydia wouldn’t hurt him, he knew that.
He knew that…He did…
”That was a crazy night…” Stiles exclaims as he tries to play off the memory loss and the blank slate that was his memory.
”Stiles it wasn’t a night, you were gone for a week and half.” Lydia’s voice shook a little as she moved closer, grabbing his hand. She had to make sure he was really there in front of her.
Stiles looks from Lydia to Scott in disbelief, “I don’t remember anything. I woke up in front of the nemeton. I just started running.”
Scott stands and proceeds to gently place a hand on Stiles and starts to take away his pain until Stiles quickly shoos him away. “Scott I’m fine, please just stop.”
”Taking my hand off,” Scott exclaims as he takes a small step backwards.
Lydia smiles softly at their interaction and asks, “What is the last thing you remember?”
”We had that get together at the old Hale plot, going over plans and I stayed after to talk to Derek about some protection runes I was wanting to test out on the property and then nothing.” Stiles answers her question and then nervously starts to fidget with his blanket. He hated the gap in his memory, it reminded him of the Nogitsune and he had worked so hard to get past this
Scott and Lydia proceeded to ask more questions to try and see if it would spark anything, the heart monitor he was hooked up to started to pick up, beeping rapidly. Melissa enters the room and quickly rushes over and says quickly, “Get out, he needs to rest. He does not need you guys asking him questions. Go home, now.”
The two teens left and Melissa turned back to Stiles and helped him get his heart rate down and his breathing back to a normal range. “I can’t remember anything.”
”I know, sweetie, I know.” Melissa states, “They’re gonna try to get you a CT in the morning as well as an X-ray. The doctor thinks you may have some amnesia or a concussion.”
She turns down the light and states before she exits the room, “Try and get some sleep Stiles.”
All Stiles could do was stare at the different outcropping of shadows as nurses walked down the halls with their med carts making the rounds. Sleep never came no matter how hard he tried to fall asleep. It wasn’t till his father returned in the morning after his shift, Stile’s pillow in tow. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.