𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 ━━ LYDIA MARTIN

88

REID AND LYDIA WERE standing in front of Eichen House after she figured out that it was where Stiles was. She had already called Sheriff Stilinski and the others, informing them of it.

"So this place..." Reid began, hating the silence that had settled between them, "would've been perfect for my mom if she was still here."

"It would be perfect for you too," she said as a joke which had him roll his eyes just as the Sheriff's car pulled up in front of them. He stepped out of his car and approached the two with two other officers behind him. "Reid," he acknowledged before looking at the strawberry blonde, "I don't want to say, 'are you sure about this' but—"

"No, he's here!" Lydia cut him off, "I swear to God, he's here."

**

When Scott and Aiden— for reasons Reid didn't bother to ask— joined them, they all entered the place, rushing towards the reception. Sheriff Stilinski placed his hand on the table as he spoke to the receptionist, "I need access to all basement rooms in this facility."

After having been given what he asked for, they all rushed town to the basement, the sheriff flashing his torch to illuminate the place a little.

"Stiles?" Lydia called out, walking down with Reid beside her and the others following the two.

They looked around for Stiles but he was nowhere in sight. Aiden huffed, his brows furrowing in confusion as he turned to Lydia, "he's not here."

"Yeah, no shit." Reid muttered, scrunching up his nose at the amount of dust surrounding them.

"Lydia?" Scott looked at her expectantly. She went silent for a few seconds, a shaky breath leaving her, "I don't get it. This has to be it."

"Then where is he, huh?" Sheriff asked, slight annoyance in his tone. He grew angry as he turned and shout at Lydia, "where is he?"

Lydia backed away from him, flinching instantly as tears filled her eyes at the sudden action. Reid frowned at the older man, clenching his jaw in anger. He was quick to step in front of her protectively before he pushed Sheriff Stilinki away from her rather roughly. "Dude, what the fuck?"

"I–" he looked at Reid, taken aback by his tone and words. He then glanced at Lydia. His face was filled with regret as he apologised, "I'm sorry."

Reid only rolled his eyes at him but decided to say nothing more, turning to look at the strawberry blonde who looked pretty shaken up. "I don't understand," she whispered, looking at Reid who laced his hand with hers, "it's okay, don't worry about it. Let's go."

Without bothering to look at anyone else or say anything, he led her up the stairs, out of the basement then shortly out of the place. Once they both sat in his car, he placed his hand on the steering wheel and turned to face her. She was staring blankly at the front, looking as dishevelled as she possibly could.

"What's wrong?"

Her head slowly lifted at the question. She flickered her eyes to him, her tongue darting out to wet her lower lip as she sniffled, "I– I don't know. I feel like shit because I gave Stiles's dad hope that he's going to be here and then we got here, he wasn't. He's probably feeling like hell right n—"

"— Stop," he interrupted, refraining himself from rolling his eyes at what she was thinking. While he could understand why she was feeling that way, he didn't necessarily share them. It annoyed him how Sheriff Stilinski behaved earlier considering it clearly made her feel worse.

"Look," he muttered, his hand instinctively going to his hair where he ran his fingers through them, "you did what you could. I don't you want you overthink this shit."

"I just..." She sighed, "I don't understand. I was sure about this."

"Let's not think about this anymore, yeah?" He was about to start the car when his phone vibrated with a message from Scott, telling him that Melissa and Rafael has found Stiles and he was in the hospital.

"See, they found him." Reid said to Lydia who visibly relaxed, looking relieved. "He's at the hospital. Do you wanna go see him or would you rather I take you home?"

"No," she quickly shook her head, "no, let's go see him."

"Okay then," he started the car, mumbling a small, "whatever you want," under his breath as he began to drive in the direction of the hospital.