Leave Me In Ruins

Not knowing is worse

The group watched quietly as Stiles paced the small patch of earth ten feet away, his free arm flailing as he did. The cool wind swept away his voice so his conversation went unheard by everyone but the wolves.

"So, uh." Adrian cleared his throat, his eyes boring into his mostly empty beer glass. "Is Stiles seeing anyone?"

Derek's focus on Stiles' conversation dropped immediately. His eyes fell to Adrian.

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Morgan rolled their eyes.

"What? Why?"

"You've been flirting with him since Danny introduced him."

Adrian shrugged. "He's been pretty shy about it, I just want to make sure there's not someone else."

"There's no one else; he's totally single," Scott answered almost eagerly.

"Oh, great." Adrian smiled.

Derek's jaw clicked. He should have known coming here would be a bad idea.

"Okay, my dad's going to go back over the statements from Melanie and Rebecka and see if he finds any discrepancies. But he also said not to get your hopes up it could just be as simple as Melanie holding onto the keys," Stiles said as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"Thank you for doing that. I really appreciate it," Kyle said with an appreciative smile.

Stiles only nodded.

"Let's get you a new drink, I think blondie over there drank yours," Adrian put an arm around Stiles' shoulders.

Stiles looked to Erica who shrugged. "I was thirsty."

Adrian led Stiles to the drink table.

"They're cute together," Lydia chirped.

Derek's jaw ached with how hard he was clenching it.

Stiles took the drink Adrian offered him with a small smile. "Thanks."

"No, thank you. You've given Kyle some hope."

"Hope's dangerous. There's a strong possibility that his sister is..." Stiles trailed off.

"I know. I think he does too. But this way it at least proves they haven't given up. 'Cause not knowing... not knowing is worse. It puts you in a weird limbo state of emotion and it sucks. At least knowing... you can move on if need be." Adrian tipped the bottle up, taking a long swig.

"Spoken from experience," Stiles noted.

"My dad." Adrian nodded. "He fell into a coma and no one knew why. We spent weeks at his side waiting for him to wake up or just... give up. Doctors finally said that he'd had a stroke. His body put him into a coma to try and heal. It was a small clot. They took out the clot and said he'd either wake up or—"

Stiles bit down on his bottom lip.

"We said our goodbyes just in case. But the way my mom would wait by the phone at night. It's no way to live. It hurt when he finally let go. But it was also a relief you know? I know that sounds bad but—"

"I get it."

Adrian looked at Stiles with surprised eyes.

"My mom got sick, frontotemporal dementia. I was eight when she finally died. She was sick for a long time. I had to watch her slowly get worse and worse. She didn't even know who I was when she died. I was devastated, but... relieved."

Adrian gave Stiles a warm smile.

"Anyway, yeah, not knowing is worse." Stiles nodded, staring down at the undrunk beer in his hand.