Counterpart|Stiles Stilinski

Exam Room

Stiles opened his eyes, but completely shut them from the harsh glare of the lights. He knew he wasn't in his room because the bed was not a pillow top and the covers were scratchy. The bed was a twin and he wasn't lying on his pillow.

"You are dreaming."

Stiles jumped at the sound of the feminine voice and he opened his eyes to find Gabriella sitting cross-legged in a faux leather lounge chair. She gave him a small smile before she got up from her chair and sat down at the edge of the foreign bed he was laying on.

She looked different since the last time he seen her in his dreams. She looked extremely tired and angry red purplish bruises were setting under her eyes. Her eyes were more noticeable as her hair was in a high ponytail her hair didn't obscure his observation of her. Plus the dark surroundings made her eyes look extremely bright as if they were a neon sign. She seemed thinner too as her shirt hung off her shoulder, her collarbone protruded from her skin. He knew he was doing this to her although at the same time he was dreaming and his mind could be playing tricks on him. Her physical appearance could just be an illusion.

"So I haven't seen you in a while." She commented as she looked at him taking in every little detail about him. Stiles probably would have blushed under such scrutiny, but he knew because of what his appearance looked like as they mirrored hers minus the thinning of muscle mass.

"You look different," Gabriella continued hesitantly before she looked away from him as their eyes met, "...I mean you look extremely tired."

Stiles nodded his head. Those same observations he noticed about her with the darkening that was fighting for dominance under her eyes were appearing on him too. They weren't as pronounced as her, but he noticed the red rims on his eyes. Stiles sat up higher on the bed to lean against the headboard. The tranquility he felt in being in Gabriella's presence was unreal. It felt too pure with everything that was happening around him. He honestly felt that in his dreams at the beginning with her was the calm right before the storm, right before the terror. "It's been a rough couple of days...I haven't been sleeping much." Ever since Barrow and the key, he still could see the key illuminating at the black-out party and Caitlyn telling him about phosphors which made things glow. Looking back at Gabriella, her eyes reminded him of the pale neon blue that coated the key in the darkness.

The setting of this dream was at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital where he was currently sleeping with the aid of a sedative since he hadn't gotten more than eight hours of sleep in the last few days. This was recommended by Scott who he thought wasn't or didn't take his concern about his role with William Barrow seriously. Stiles wasn't all that sure of his role entirely and consciously he knew he would never do something as order a man to kill someone, but he never closed his door. He was still losing track of time and a sense of his surroundings.

He wondered if he should tell Gabriella about his revelation and connection to William Barrow trying to kill Kira, or whatever Barrow wanted with her. He wasn't sure how much Gabriella knew about what went on outside of Eichen House, but Barrow was a patient there now. She certainly must have been exposed to some gossip and if he was right about her being a banshee she probably was definitely hearing things. Her voice broke him out of his daze.

"Another thing we have in common...two peas in a pod." She told him with a small smile tugging at her lips as she traced a spiral onto his bed with her finger. The irony of what she was drawing – a symbol of vendetta – was not lost on him as Scott got bit by Peter's need for revenge of his family that mostly all perished in the Hale house fire orchestrated by Kate Argent.

Stiles chuckled at her statement. He watched as she crawled next to him but she laid down with her head resting on the pillow he just abandoned. It was than he noticed how small she really was and for some reason the morbid thought of how easily it would be to hurt her entered his mind how easily it would be to bruise her.