Through the years

11.

It was Laura. 

The girl had been the one to reach them first with her mother and she had immediately gone for Stiles while her mother took care of the wolf. 

Derek was standing protectively in front of his sister and Stiles, both of them on the ground while Derek growled in direction of the fight. 

The rest of the pack soon surrounded the two on the floor, hiding the injured boy from the wolf until they knew it was safe. 

They had all been waiting for Stiles to join them when they heard his screams. 

They had thought he had been taking his time walking back to them after failing to catch Cora who was happily bragging about winning against her uncle Stiles. 

But as they were chuckling at the little girl's words, the echo of the brunette's haunting screams reached their ears and the smiles dropped. 

They shared a terrified look before darting into the direction of the sounds. 

Thankfully, the brunette wasn't far from them and they were able to reach them quickly enough to be able to save the human from his death. 

And it wasn't until the unknown wolf's heart stopped beating under Talia's claws that the fighting stopped. 

They all growled some more, waiting to make sure it was really dead before focusing on Stiles. 

Laura hurriedly lifted him in her arms and they rushed back to the house, getting into the car and driving to the hospital. 

"Stuart Hale's family?" a nurse called three hours after Stiles was rushed into the operating room.

They, of course, couldn't tell the hospital Stiles' real identity and had to come up with something on the spot. 

"Yes!" Connor exclaimed as he and the hale pack sprung out of their seats and faced the nurse. 

"The operation was a success." she reassured the family who all sighed in relief. "However," she said, seeing all of them tense up at that. "While we were able to save his eye, we couldn't save his sight. He will remain blind on his right side. I'm very sorry." she apologised, turning around and leaving after allowing them to visit the boy.

"Hey, Stiles." Eviana said softly as they walked into the room to see the brunette looking out the window from his bed. 

The boy turned around and they were able to see the bandage placed over his right eye. 

"Hey." he greeted back, his voice hoarse and sounding sleepy. 

He had most likely just woken up. 

His eyes fell upon the little girl peeking at him from behind her mother and he smiled at her. 

"Looks like I finally found you." he chuckled softly and the girl started crying. "Why are you crying?" he asked, bewildered and Talia smiled sadly at him.

"She feels guilty. She thinks it's her fault."

"Come here, Cora." Stiles asked, opening his arms and the girl hesitantly climbed onto the bed and into his arm carefully. 

Stiles could feel the staring at his bandaged hands and eye but he ignored it and focused on the girl instead. 

"It's not your fault, rosy cheeks. What happened to me will never be your fault. I'm so glad you weren't there with me, petal. I'm glad you're okay." he told her and she slowly stopped crying, cuddling against his side where she could smell no blood.