YOUTH || Liam Dunbar [1]

THREE

Melissa had been the one to take Liam into a room to be checked over. Katherine had given her a hug, and was promised a good dinner that wasn't take out.

"I've got to get going," Stiles sighed, looking between her and Scott. "I promised Malia I'd help her study. You want a ride home, Kat?"

"No," Katherine sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'll stay here with Scott and go home with him or get a ride from Melissa. I want to make sure he's okay."

Stiles nodded and pulled her in for a hug. She grimaced when his hands moved to her neck, feeling the four crescent shaped scars. He let out a shaky sigh. "I'll see you at home then." Katherine nodded, closing her eyes when he kissed the top of her head before turning to Scott. "I don't need to say this wasn't your fault, right?" Stiles told him quietly.

Katherine could tell this was something the two of them needed to discuss alone, so she wandered down the hallway to where Liam's room was. She sat on the floor a short ways away from the door, her backpack in the ground next to her, picking dirt off the toe of her Vans while she waited.

Scott rounded the corner a short while later, seeming to be tuned into the conversation happening inside the hospital. He raised his eyebrows for a moment, then turned to Katherine with a soft smile.

She grumbled. "What," she muttered, pulling her hair up into a messy bun.

"He's talking about you," Scott smiled. Katherine raised her brows. Scott rolled his eyes. "This girl at tryouts today was literally adorable. She was just sitting up on the bleachers with her friends, but I think she was there for the two juniors I — stupidly — went up against," he mimicked poorly with air quotations. Katherine snorted quietly and rolled her eyes.

"It was probably someone else," she shrugged, resuming the mind-numbing of dirt removal.

Scott had gone down the hall to grab a snack from the vending machine when the Doctor came out. He walked past her before pausing and turned around. "Do you know the patient?" He asked with a faint chuckle.

Katherine smiled sheepishly. "Um, not really," she mumbled awkardly. "But I'm with the idiots who hurt him, so I figured I'd stick around."

"Well, I'm sure he'd appreciate your company," The Doctor grinned — there was something about it that suggested he knew something — then walked away. Katherine let out a breath then looked at Scott, who was talking to someone on his phone, and shrugged.

Screw it.

She stood up and shuffled into the doorway of the hospital room, one arm holding her backpack while the other found its way into the back pocket of her jeans. She'd always hated hospitals. They were cold and they smelled bad.

Katherine knocked awkwardly on the open door, looking at her feet when Liam's head snapped over in her direction.

"Katherine," he breathed out, his bright blue eyes wide. "You stayed."

"Yeah," she shrugged. "Scott did too, but he's on the phone with someone." Liam looked away bitterly at the mention of Scott, then he waved her inside.

"You can sit if you want," he grimaced, nodding his head in the direction of three chairs. Katherine merely nodded. She sat down on the middle chair, her bag on the one to her right.

"How's the leg?" She asked softly, glancing at the large bump in his ankle.

"I'll need an X-ray," he sighed, glaring at it. "But I guess that's what I get for going up against two juniors."

Katherine opened her mouth to disagree, only to have Scott interrupt her. "Katherine I need to go and find Sean Walcott, I'm not sure how long it's going to be, but Lydia phoned and she said something was wr —" her eyes widened.