Stay with Me (Stalia)

Chapter 23

They walked into the Stilinski household to the sound of laughter. They both stopped short at the sound of a loud laugh that could only belong to Stiles. For some reason, it made Malia sad instead of happy. Before she could puzzle it out on her own Scott spoke up,

“Now that’s a sound I haven’t heard in a really long time.” Malia thought about his words and came to a distressing conclusion. She had never really heard Stiles laugh, a real, loud, carefree laugh. Sure he joked around a lot and smiled and chuckled and gave sarcastic ‘Ha ha’s, but she hadn’t ever heard him laugh like he was currently laughing.

“I’ve never realized that he doesn’t really laugh.” She murmured.

“Yeah, his mom was really good at making him laugh…” The words were barely out of his mouth when they heard a woman’s voice above the laughter. Malia and Scott exchanged a look before following the sounds to the kitchen. They walked in to see Stiles doubled over in laughter and his mom talking animatedly. He was too old for it to be a memory, so it had to be their Stiles. Confirming her thoughts, Stiles looked up at the two of them.

“Scott, Malia! What are you guys doing here?” He said with a huge smile on his face. Malia suddenly had no idea what to do or say. This was the first time in his head that Stiles had acknowledged their presence.

“We just came by to visit,” Scott spoke up.

“I just saw both of you less than an hour ago…” Stiles said a bit suspiciously

“Well, my mom’s working late and you know how bad Malia’s dad is at cooking, so we figured we’d stop by for some of Claudia Stilinski’s famous cooking.” Scott improvised quickly. Malia was impressed by his speedy thinking.

“You guys know you are always welcome for dinner,” Claudia said smiling at them, “I always make plenty.”

“Awesome” Malia said with a smile that she didn’t really feel.

“Well, pop a squat guys, Mom was just telling me stories about her crazy first graders.” Scott and Malia sat down wordlessly. "Are you okay?" Stiles whispered. She nodded in response. "Is something wrong with the pack?"

"Everything's good Stiles, we just came for a visit." Stiles either bought it or decided to drop it, but either way he switched his attention to his mother. The whole thing felt incredibly strange and wrong. Malia realized that Stiles had constructed an entire alternate reality inside of his coma. A world where his mother had never died. That was why he hadn’t woken up yet, the world inside his head was a lot more appealing than the world outside. Somehow they had to figure out a way of making him realize that this wasn’t real. But they had to go about it delicately. Deaton had warned them about messing with Stiles’ head.

Stiles started laughing at something his mom said that Malia hadn’t even heard. While he was distracted she turned to Scott and mouthed “After dinner”. He nodded, showing that he agreed. They had to get Stiles alone to talk to him and they knew that wouldn’t be able to happen until dinner was over.

*****

A short while later, Malia and Scott found themselves eating a delicious dinner with Stiles and his mom. The Sheriff was working late and hadn’t been able to join them. Despite her best efforts to not get swept up in this fake reality, Malia found herself really liking Claudia Stilinski. The woman was easy going, talkative, funny and a damn good cook.

Scott and Malia joined in on the conversation to play the part, and Malia found herself enjoying the it more than she should. She had never seen Stiles as happy as he was sitting at the table with them. It broke her heart knowing that she was going to have to take him away from all of this. She and Scott were going to have to bring him back to a reality where his body is broken, his mind tormented, and his mother dead.