Noelle||Jordan Parrish

Chapter 23

Things couldn't get any worse than they are right now, and they never have been. Our father is dying, Scott is dead, Kira is still gone, and Jordan and I aren't on good terms right now. The problems we've been facing lately, is crumbling the strong foundation of our relationship. And now Stiles and I are standing in the waiting room of the hospital, trying to figure out all the insurance things while our father is being operated on. The stress is piling up and I feel like I'm drowning.
The claw marks Theo left on Scott are still ever present on me to. They've stopped bleeding again, but they seem to keep bleeding every once and awhile. They didn't disappear like they did when Allison died, leading me to wonder if he somehow survived. My heart holds onto the hope that he is alive, that someone was there in time to save him.
"You said his insurance was with the county? He's a Deputy?" a woman behind the front desk asks.
I let out an annoyed sigh as I clasp my hands together to stop them from shaking,"No, he's the sheriff, he's the county sheriff. Okay? He's covered."
"We mean, he should be covered," Stiles states, his voice sounding as exhausted as mine.
"I'll take care of it," I hear a voice from behind me say. I turn around and see Melissa standing there, with a sympathetic look on her face.
"How's Scott? Is he okay?" I ask nervously.
"He's healing, but he's fine. I texted him. He's coming as soon as he can. I can call Malia, and Parrish," Melissa suggests. I breathe out a sigh of relief, happy that Scott is alive, but still slightly angry at him for not believing us.
"No, no, no. Don't call anyone." Stiles tells her, making her look at us in confusion.
"Is there anyone else we need to notify? A next of kin?" The woman from the front desk calls out.
I shake my head sadly,"No, it's us. It's just us."
I sit down in a chair beside Stiles, awaiting news about our critically injured father. A flash of pain ran through me and I could feel the gruesome wound on my stomach began to bleed again, why wasn't Scott healing?
Nerves began to continue to build up in my chest as my anxiety built up, fear of what was going to happen to us. I stood up and began to pace through the pretty much empty hospital waiting room. My mind began to race thinking of all the things that have gone wrong in the last 24 hours, and the things that will continue to go wrong. We are nowhere near winning this battle against the Dread Doctors, in fact we are even losing.
My heart begins to pound until I could feel it's unsteady beat throughout my whole body. I continued to clasp my hands together to stop their incessant shaking. My breathing picked as I felt like I wasn't getting the right oxygen to my lungs. It was almost like someone was someone was stepping on my chest and with every breath I took I got in less and less. My vision began to get worse, as I could feel my feet give out on me, as I stumbled slightly.
"Noelle? Are you ok?" I hear Stiles say, but his voice is very distant, as if he was far away.
This feeling is all too familiar to me, I was having a panic attack. I stumbled backwards my back running into a wall. I slide down it as I continue to gasp for breath as tears stream rapidly down my face.
I could feel Stiles hand on me, and I could slightly hear the words he was saying. But I couldn't focus on anything but trying to get my lungs to work. My breaths came out in gasps as a call out for one name, the name of someone who wouldn't be here, and it was all my fault that he wasn't.
"Stiles did you hear that? You need to call Parrish, tell him to get here right now."
I feel as if the walls are closing in on me as sweat beads on my forehead. And I could think is that everything was falling apart, and it's my fault. If I wouldn't have had to come back from the dead, all this unnecessary stress on everyone else because of me would be gone.
"Noelle, sweetie. It's Melissa, can you hear me? You're having a panic attack. I need you to take a deep breath."
"I-I can't," I gasp out, looking at the blurry image that is her face.
"Noelle!" I hear a voice yell. A voice I would never forget in a million years.
"Give them some space,"I hear Melissa tell Stiles.
I look over and see Jordan kneel beside me, his face full of panic. I pull on the collar of my shirt as my hand shake in an attempt to get myself to breathe better.
He strokes my cheek,"Noelle, El, you need to breathe. It's going to be ok. Everything's going to be ok. I-I love you so much, and I'm sorry about earlier."
This helps a little as my heartbeat begins to slow down, but it still felt like I couldn't breathe right. Jordan takes my face in both his hands, and presses his lips to mine. I'm slightly shocked at first, then I begin to kiss him back, the gasping to breathe stopping. He kissed me with such a passion that I knew he didn't kiss me because he knew it would stop the panic attack. He kissed me because he knew I needed it, and he needed it too.
"What are you doing here?" I ask after I calm down, as we now sit in chairs in the waiting room.
"Well, I heard about what happened to your dad, and I knew I had to be here for you, I wanted to be here for you." he explains as he grips my hand tightly. I look down at my feet and nod, still slightly upset about our fight earlier.
He brings his free hand under my chin, lifting my head so I was back to looking at his bright green eyes. "Listen to me El. I am so sorry about earlier. I was upset and scared about finding out that I was the one taking the bodies, and I took it out on you. I love you so much and I know that you trust me just as much as I trust you."
I sigh and lay my head across his chest, leaning across one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. "I'm sorry too, I should have told you earlier. And I love you too, so much."
He looks down at my shirt eyes widening when he saw the blood on my shirt when my jacket moved to the side,"What happened to you?"
I shrug my shoulders,"It's Scott's wound, I don't really know why it's still bleeding, or why I'm bleeding, but it doesn't really hurt that bad."
He frowns in concern,"Are you sure you're ok?"
I grab his hand smiling slightly,"I'll be fine, I'm sure Scott will heal soon."
Eventually, I let myself fall more on to Jordan, letting the exhaustion take over me as I let myself fall asleep for the first time in like two days.
"Hey babe, you coming?" I hear Jordan's voice call out.
I lift my head and look around, finding myself in the woods, Jordan standing a few feet away from me, holding a picnic basket. "What?"
"Remember, I have to be to work in three hours, and it takes a half an hour to hike to the place, we'd better get going, or your dad will have my ass." He explains, a look of confusion covering his face.
"Sorry, of course, let's go," I say with a smile shaking my head, shaking the thoughts of confusion from my head.
He turns and smiles at me, his green eyes bright and happy as he reaches out to take my hand. I happily grab it, walking alongside him, smiling happily. We make our way through the woods, coming across a bridge, overlooking a peaceful stream.
I look around at the area, looking at the beautiful scenery, and I turn to Jordan,"This place is beautiful, where did you find it?"
He shrugs as we walk onto the bridge,"On one of my runs. When I just got here, I didn't have much to do, or many people to talk to after work, so I explored these woods."
I smiled, about to say something when I saw Lydia standing there, in the water. Her eyes distant, and vague of emotions. She turns her head and looks up at us,"Help me."
I snap up, looking around, finding myself still in the hospital, I look over at Jordan who had the same shocked and concerned look on her face.
I try to catch my breath, trying desperately to calm myself down,"I just... did you just?"
He nods,"Date in the woods?"
"Yeah, Lydia's in danger, we need to go find her." I say, standing up.
Jordan shakes his head,"No, you should stay here with your dad. I'll go find her, you stay here and make sure your dad is ok."
"Are you sure? I mean, can go if you need me to," I tell him.
He shakes his head, holding my hand supportively,"Yes, you need to stay here. Don't worry about it, I will find her."
I nod, and he begins walking away, but I call his name, causing him to turn around,"Hey J, about the dream, did you actually find it when you were jogging one day?"
He smiles slightly,"Yeah, I'll take you there when this is all over."
I smile as he turns around and walks away. In that moment, my love for him grows. The fact that in the face of all of our lives being on rock bottom, he still manages to lift me up, and make me feel better. In that moment, I know that everything will be okay, that everything will balance out. In that moment, I realize that I could spend the rest of my life with that man, the man I love. The only person I'll ever love.
After about 5 minutes, Stiles comes back, and I lay my head on his shoulder, and fall asleep, still anxiously waiting to find out about our father's condition. Not long later, I feel someone shaking my shoulder lightly, calling mine and Stiles' name. I jump slightly when I see Melissa kneeling in front of us.
She puts a hand on my shoulder supportively,"It's okay. Dr. Geyer is stitching him up right now."
I breathe out a sigh of relief,"Can we see him."
Melissa holds me down from standing up,"The anesthesia needs to wear off. That's gonna be at least two hours."
Stiles nods,"Okay, yeah, but everything's okay though, I mean, he's okay?"
A small smile grows on Melissa's face,"Mmhmm. He's gonna be just fine.
I breathe out another sigh of relief, as Stiles pulls me into a hug,"Thank God."
After they finished stitching him up, they let us into the room to see our dad. He looked pretty weak, but nothing compared to how he looked earlier tonight. Stiles sat on one side of him, and I sat on the other, as we help his hands, trying to show him our support. After knowing he was okay, I lay my head down on his bed, and once again try and catch up on some of the sleep I had lost in the last 24 hours. When I wake back up, not two hours later, I notice that his breathing has worsened and there is something wrong with his neck. My heart drops once again, he's not out of the woods yet, and we still could lose him, the only family we have left. I wake Stiles up, and head downstairs to find his doctor and Melissa.
I come across them and say,"What happened to our dad. He was fine two hours ago. Now it looks like someone took a baseball bat to his neck."
Dr. Geyer shrugs slightly,"There could've been some minor internal bleeding."
Stiles frowns, glaring at the Doctor in annoyance,"Did you say, "Minor internal"? Since when is anything internal minor?"
I let out a sigh,"We need to know what's going on with him, okay? Somebody needs to tell us what's happening."
When nobody answers, Stiles' face washes over with frustration and anger,"Somebody seriously needs to tell us what's happening to him!"
Melissa lets out a sigh, guilt and sympathy written all over her face,"We don't know."
Stiles gaze drifts from Melissa to the door, an angry look growing on his face. I over to see Scott standing on the other side of the door, looking into our dad's room. My eyes widen, after hearing, and feeling what happened to Scott, I couldn't help but forgive him a little. I had some time to think, when I realized that we had all fallen into Theo's trap. But I am still upset that he believed Theo over Stiles and I about the Donovan thing.
Before I know it, Stiles storms through the doors, tackling Scott to the ground before I could stop him.
"Where the hell were you?" Stiles shouts as Melissa and I get Stiles off of Scott. When we let him go, he continues to glare at Scott.
Scott lets out a sigh,"Your dad's not the only one who got hurt."
I frown in confusion, knowing he wasn't talking about himself, he wouldn't do that. "Oh you'll heal." Stiles snaps.
Scott shakes his head, covering up the blood on his white shirt with his coat. "I'm not talking about me. It's Lydia, Parrish found her in the woods. She's fine, but she seems to be in a concious comatose state. We brought her here, she's in a room on the first floor with her mom.
I decide to let just Stiles go see her, and I go talk to Scott. I look down at his shirt, then back into his eyes,"Why aren't you healing?"
He lets out a sigh and shrugs,"I'm not exactly sure, do you feel it too?"
I nod and lift my shirt, showing my wound that is identical to his,"It doesn't hurt that bad, it's just kind of a throbbing ache now."
He lets out a sigh, guilt in his eyes,"I'm sorry."
"It's fine, I'll heal."
"Not just for that. But for not believing your story about Donovan." Scott says, his eyes full of guilt and sadness.
I shake my head, "It's ok, we all fell into Theo's trap, some more than others, but we did all the same. I'm tired of fighting, it's not helping anything. I think we'd be better off if we all were together, working as a team, working as a pack. I think we need to get everyone back together, we need to work on another way to stop Theo and the Dread Doctors."
Scott nods,"I agree, but first I think we need to focus on how to save your dad."
I frown in confusion,"I know he's not doing well, do you know what's wrong with him?"
"I don't know exactly, but it's bad enough for Lydia to give a sign, even in her state. Parrish found her and brought her to me, and told me she had carved a sheriff's badge into a rock."
We head downstairs to talk with Stiles and Jordan on what to do with Lydia.
"It could be a side effect of shock," Jordan suggests, his forehead creased in worry.
"She's catatonic. It was Theo digging his way through her mind." Stiles explains, his anger for Theo clear in every word.
"Why would he do that? What is he looking for," Melissa asks in confusion.
"The same thing he's always looking for, an advantage." Scott replies
"So what did he gain by trying to kill Stilinski?" Jordan asks.
"It left me alone with Liam. Theo wanted to make sure nobody would stop him him from killing me," Scott explains, his anger towards Theo also present.
"Okay, so he gutted our dad as a distraction," I state, trying to piece together this whole thing.
Jordan turns to me, holding my hand supportively,"We need to find this kid."
"Isn't that a little dangerous? Especially since he almost killed my kid." Melissa asks.
"Yeah, but he said he didn't want our dad to die," Stiles replies.
"And you believe him?" Jordan asks, a look of bewilderment on his face.
"He told us where to find him. So maybe he knows how to save him." Stiles answers.
"What do you want to do? Talk to him?" Melissa asks, confused on how he would want to see the person who almost killed Scott and our dad.
"If it saves our dad, then yeah." I tell them.
"I'll come with you guys. He doesn't know that I'm alive. Maybe that gives us an advantage." Scott suggests, his eyes filled with despiration, he's trying really hard to get Stiles to forgive him. But Stiles is stubborn, it's going to take a lot more than a helpful gesture.
"He'll know you're there. I just need to talk to him, not fight him." Stiles replies, heading towards the door, pulling me after him.
Melissa calls his name, causing him to turn around,"You guys can't go alone."
"Does anyone even know how to find him?" Jordan asks, walking up to stand beside me.
"We don't have to find him. He'll come to us." I tell him, trying to ease his nerves.
The plan was set, Stiles and I waited on the steps, and Scott upstairs. We had one of his hoodies to explain why his scent was there. We were going to act like we had just found out Scott was dead. As I heard Theo approach the door, I put a sad look on my face, as if I had just lost my best friend.
He looks down at the mountain ash, we had placed around the door, a look of victory crossing his face as he steps in, crossing right over the mountain ash, which must be an ability of the Chimeras seeing as they aren't technically real supernatural creatures.
As he walks in, he's got a confident smirk on his face, as if he'd won. "I guess we're all telling the truth now." He then looks up the stairs, smelling Scott.
I toss him the sweatshirt with tears in my eyes. Stiles also has tears in his own brown eyes as he says,"You killed our best friend?"
He looks down at the hoodie, then back at us,"Let's be honest, guys. Was he still really your best friend?'
I continue to look at him with sad eyes,"Are you going to let our father die too?"
"If I wanted him to die, I wouldn't have told you where you can find him," He replies immediately, throwing Scott's hoodie to the ground.
"Then why are they saying his body is shutting down? That some toxin is poisoning him, and they don't know how to stop it." I tell him as I stand up, to meet his gaze.
"I'm not the bad guy, Noelle. I'm just a realist. I'm a survivor. If you knew the things that I know.."
"Yeah, but what do you know?" Stiles interrupts, standing up beside me.
"I know what's coming. I know what the Dread Doctors created. And Noelle, I know what Parrish is. Lydia figured it out. I saw it in her memories." Theo tells me, my sadness immediately changing to anger.
"Right after you drove her out of her mind." Stiles snaps.
Theo shrugs as if it's no big deal,"Collateral damage. But if she's right about Parrish, things around here are going to get a lot worse."
I shake my head,"I don't care."
"You should, Noelle. Because if your dad does survive, he's not gonna be sheriff of anything much longer." Theo replies.
"What's happening to him?" Stiles asks sadly. Theo doesn't answer, but turns to walk out. "Hey tell me!" Stiles shouts, grabbing him. Theo simply shoves him into the stairs and walks away. I turn and see Stiles unconscious, he must have hit his head on the stairs.
Once Theo is gone, Scott runs down and helps me wake Stiles up, we call out his name, and shake him a few times, until he finally opens his eyes and sits up, looking at us.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Scott asks, grabbing his arms.
Stiles shoves him away, standing up, and snaps,"I'm fine."
"You blacked out," I tell him, still worried if he's okay or not.
"I'm fine," he replies more softly this time. He turns to Scott,"Did you get anything from him?"
Scott shakes his head,"Nothing. He was calm the entire time."
What about his heart?" I ask.
"I heard it jump, but only once, and only for a second." Scott replies.
"That doesn't mean he's lying." Stiles states.
"Not really. The rest of the time it was steady."
"When did it jump? What were we talking about?" I ask.
"It was when you said your dad was poisoned." Scott explains.
Stiles eyes look hopeful,"That could be something. A jump could mean surprise, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I think so."
"Ok, so why would he be surprised that our dad's still dying?" I ask, racking my brain for any reason why..
"Oh, wait. He didn't say that he was the one who attacked your dad, did he?" Scott asks, an idea popping into his head.
Stiles shakes his head,"No."
"Well, that probably means it was someone else."
"Another Chimera."
Stiles then grabs my arm, and leads me out to my jeep. I get in, Stiles getting in the passenger seat as Scott walk out, ready to follow. Stiles is quick to lock the door, refusing to let Scott in. I let out a sigh, looking down, knowing I couldn't interfere, Stiles had to forgive Scott on his own terms.
"Stiles?"
Stiles refuses to meet Scott's gaze keeping his eye fixed on the driveway in front of us,"Yeah, we can do the rest ourselves."
"You don't even know where to start. A-All we know is that it's another Chimera. Do you even know where you're headed?" Scott asks, stuttering slightly, probably from the nervousness of trying to get his best friend back.
I let out a sigh, okay maybe a push in the right direction won't hurt,"Stiles, he's right, we need him."
Stiles lets out a sigh, unlocking the door, and climbing in the back. A small smile of victory adorns Scott's face as he gets in the jeep, and buckles his seatbelt.
Stiles glares at Scott as he gets settled,"I'm still not happy about this."
Scott lets out a sigh,"Come on Stiles, you trusted him too. Theo got to all of us."
Stiles' glare disappears,"You know you don't even know the real story,"
Guilt flashes in Scott's eyes,"I don't need to. All that matters right now is your dad. Come on, Stiles. We survived an Alpha pack, a dark druid, professional assassins. We can survive Dread Doctors and Chimeras too."
Stiles is quiet for a moment,"We're not looking for a missing Chimera. We are looking for a missing teenager."
We then get out of the car, and head inside, to Stiles' room to do some investigating. We had to figure out who this missing teenager was, our dad's life is on the line.
"There was a call a few hours ago about a sophomore from Beacon High who never came home last night," I say after doing some research on our dad's work laptop.
"What's his name?" Scott asks.
"Noah Patrick, and he's on the list of potential Chimeras." Stiles replies.
We then head over to the school, to get to his locker, so Scott could find something to catch his scent.
Scott holds up one of his hoodies, smiling proudly,"Now we can catch his scent."
He tosses his hoodie to the side, and Malia catches it, walking over to us.
"You called her?" Stiles asks Scott.
"We need all the help we can get. I should be calling everyone." Scott replies.
Malia nods, hope in her eyes,"And I know what this kid looks like."
"Come on, Stiles. We need her." I beg slightly. Stiles lets out a sigh and nods.
Malia leads us to an old railroad tunnel, just the beginning of the long tunnels that the Dread Doctors hide in, a place we have yet to find.
While Stiles stands a few feet away, Malia Scott, and I walk in front. "He didn't want you to call me, did he?" Malia asks, sadness and hurt clear in her voice.
Scott looks back at Stiles, then back to us. "No. Is it that bad?" Scott asks.
Malia lets out a sigh,"We kind of broke up, I guess."
"Yeah, we kind of broke up, too..." Scott replies, causing Malia to continue walking.
"You can tell us what's happening with you. I mean, besides Stiles. You can talk to us." I tell her, trying to figure out what was going on with her.
"I said I'd help find this kd, and I'm doing it to help save your dad. Don't ask me to talk." Malia says, an emotionless look on her face.
I let out a small sigh,"Well, I'm not asking. I'm offering, so whenever you're ready, I'll be here. We'll be here."
"I know." she tells us, before slipping under a vent to find another hallway. I look at Stiles and Scott hesitantly, before following after Malia. Once we all are through, we watch as Malia smells the slight breeze running through the tunnels,"I got it. I got his scent.
Malia walks over and runs her fingers along a pipe with a small amount of blood on it."It's Noah's. He was here. I think he's close."
"Guys," Scott says, drawing our attention to him. "I think we've been down tunnels like this before, like when we were looking for Liam and Hayden."
"Okay, so what?" Stiles asks, his tone slightly annoyed.
'Maybe it means that we're closer than we think. Maybe there's something else down here. Something that we haven't found yet."
"Yeah, nothing that helps our dad. Look we can't just be standing around here waiting for something to.."
We then hear a growl, and something knocks me down, causing me to hit my head on the wall, sending me into darkness.
Stiles and I stand beside the freshly buried grave of our mother as a fresh set of tears fall down my face. Not only did our mother die, but she died fearing and hating us, not even remembering who we are.
I felt a large warm hand on my shoulder,"Come on Noelle, Stiles. You gotta get up now." I wipe my tears, putting my hand on top of my father's. I turn around to face him, Stiles doing the same.
A sad smile sits on his face,"You've still got me."
I nod and stand up, wrapping my arms around the only parent we have left, Stiles doing the same
I'm then snapped back into reality, letting out a groan from the pain in the back of my head. Scott and Stiles pull me up from the ground. Stiles looks at me, his eyes filled with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I reply weakly.
"You're bleeding again," Scott says, pointing to Scott's wound on my stomach.
I look over at his stomach, his marks from Theo's claws bleeding as well."So are you."
I hear a growl to the side of me, and I turn my head to see Malia fighting this dark skinned teenager only a few years younger than we are.
"Let me go, please, please. They're coming." The boys says, his voice filled with fear. A sound echoes from the halls making all our hearts pound nervously. The dark chirping sound of the Dread Doctors.
Malia lets the boy go, and he quickly stands up, trying to run away. Stiles grabs him and shoves him into the nearest wall,"You're not going anywhere."
"I told you I don't remember." The boy says, pure fear from the Dread Doctors written all over his face
"You don't remember anything?"
"Not when it happens. Not when I change." The boy replies.
"You clawed my dad half to death, okay? And now it's poisoning him. You're gonna start remembering every detail right now." Stiles snaps, keeping his hold on the boy.
"Scott, I hear them," Malia states.
"Yeah, I do too. Hey Stiles, Noelle. Get him out of here. Go to the hospital. Figure out a way to save your dad." Scott tells us.
I nod and begin helping Stiles get the boy out of here. Wincing when the claw marks on my stomach begin to bleed again.
As we're running we run into a locked gate, Stiles grabs it, and shakes it in anger.
I turn to the boy,"Is there any way you can break that?"
"I think so. Step back though." He replies. We look at him in confusion, causing him to continue. "It's just sometimes, most of the time I lose control. So you better step back.
We step back, and he walks up to the gate. He grunts in pain as two long claws protrute from each hand, the one on his right broken off slighty. He grabs the chain around the gate, and breaks it. As I watch, an idea pops into my head. What if a piece of his claw is still in our dad, and thats what's causing the reaction he's getting.
He pries the gate open,"Let's go."
As we run, I pull out my phone dialing Melissa's number, she picks up on the first ring.
"Noelle? Did you find anything?"
"Yeah, the Chimera who hurt him has large claws, they look kind of like bones. I think one of them broke off inside of my dad. I think it's still in there. You need to get it out, and fast, I fear he doesn't have much time left."
Later on, Stiles and I lay by our father's side. They managed to get out the bone fragment in time, and Melissa said that her vitals look much better. I lay my head beside Stiles on our dad's hospital bed, letting my eyes shut, sleep taking over the second my head hit the bed.
I feel someone's had on my arm, carressing it softly. I slowly lift up my head from my arms,
to see our dad, awake, looking down at us. Relief washes over me as Stiles wakes up too.
"It's okay, Stiles. Noelle. You still got me."

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Hey guys!!! I hope you liked that chapter!! I really enjoyed writing it, and I have to thank you for showing me continuous support. Please keep it up by voting, and commenting how you liked it!! Pretend the gif is Jordan and Noelle, thanks again!
-S