a second chance

TWO

The sound of Lydia's body hitting the ground caused Stiles to turn around, his eyes widened when he saw the knife lodged in her stomach. "Lydia?" Stiles looked towards the street with a look of betrayal before kneeling beside Lydia, taking off his jacket to apply pressure to the wound, and laying her in his lap. He knew Layla hadn't meant to do it, he knew she was being controlled by whoever those people were but that didn't mean he wasn't still angry at the female. Even though, now she was gone. "Why didn't I stop her..." He demanded, desperately trying to stop the blood pouring out of Lydia's stomach. "Okay, Lydia. I need you to keep your eyes open." Stiles ordered, snapping his fingers when Lydia began to lose consciousness.

Everything might as well have been happening in slow motion. He could see the flashing lights of police cars and ambulances, what felt like moments later, through his peripheral vision but he didn't think much of it as he continued to apply as much pressure to Lydia's wound as possible. The lights seemed to be in the area where Layla had gone. So, they weren't here to help Lydia. "You're not dying on me, you understand? You need to hold on, help is on the way." Stiles was referring to his text to Scott who was nowhere to be seen. He was frantically trying to control the bleeding with one hand while holding Lydia's hand with the other. His jacket was soaked with her blood and so were his hands but he didn't let it faze him. Stiles let out a frustrated yell as his eyes began to burn, tears soon forming. "Stiles... I'm scared," she let out a shaky breath as tears started going down her face. "I know you're scared, I am too. But you can't let go yet, okay? We still need you, *I* still need you." As Lydia began to fall unconscious, Stiles risked a glance toward the flashing lights. "Hey, I need help here!" His voice cracked and was full of panic as his eyes met Lydia's, begging her to hold on.

A car appeared in the parking lot and came to a sudden halt. Malia, Liam, and Isaac got out without bothering to close their car doors. Scott had texted them. Stiles didn't bother to even look up. "Go get someone..." He finally looked at them when no one moved, tears now pouring out of his eyes. "NOW!" He practically yelled before Liam took off running towards the police and ambulance.

"Stiles.." Lydia up looked up at the sky with wide, hazy eyes. Like this was all a dream him being there. She noticed his eyes tearing up. "It's going to be okay, Stiles." She murmured weakly, as she held onto his hand.

The strawberry blonde parted her lips, all color draining from her milky white face, tears clinging to her lashes as she shook her head, panic grew in her eyes " Stiles, I just need to tell you something" she pushed through whatever pain she was she was enduring at that moment. "I want to tell you, that..." she winced "that I love you." She manages to get out.

The tears streaked down his cheeks as he nodded his head gazing down at her, not daring to look way for a fraction of a second. "and I hate that this is how I had to tell you.." Her bottom lip trembled before her voice cracked. Lydia's eyes began to flutter, her body quaking and gasping for air.

"Promise me, that you'll go on and be happy. I want you to be so so happy. Promise me..." Stiles shook his head as Lydia began making requests, obviously in denial about the entire situation. She was going to make it, she *had* to make it. They've defeated death before, they'll do it again. "No, Lydia. You're going to be okay.. you're going to make it through this, we always do" Stiles began to ramble, only shutting up when he realized she was no longer replying. Tears began to fall when reality finally hit him. Lydia had lost too much blood, color began to fade from her cheeks, and her body was far from warm. These were all obvious signs death was inevitable. "I can't be happy, not without you. Please, Lydia... I love you so much." As Lydia took her final breath and her body went limp in his arms, Stiles began shaking his head not believing what he saw. And before he can stop her before he can say anything else, her body went completely limp and lifeless against him, her eyes falling shut and her final words dying on her lips. Her hand grew limp and stiles was left there with a corpse of his former lover.

His entire body shook as he began gasping for breath, he was close to a full blown panic attack and he knew it. Stiles chose to ignore the evidence, too stubborn and headstrong to accept the fact she was gone. "Lydia?... Lydia?" Stiles gently shook her shoulder, trying to somehow wake her up. A sob escaped his lips as he gently wiped a tear from Lydia's cheek with his thumb. He gasped when he received no response in return, gently laying her body on the floor before beginning to perform CPR. Stiles began muttering to himself as he pressed his hands against her chest, pushing down as hard as he could, only pausing to press his mouth against hers in attempt to get air into her lungs. His hands were shaking which definitely didn't help but he continued regardless, refusing to accept the fact that she was gone. "You're not dead, you're not dead. Come on, Lydia. You're stronger than this, come on! I've waited for you since 3rd grade to finally notice me, you're not dying on me, not now." Stiles could hear voices coming from elsewhere, familiar voices, which made him even more frustrated they weren't helping him. His dad ran up from behind him and started pulling him off of Lydia. Stiles protested in screams, the pain was tearing him apart from the inside. He pulled away from his dad and returned to Lydia's body without the thought that she wasn't actually gone. "Please... Please." Tears dripped down from his face and onto her body. He rested his head on her chest a sobbed into her blood soaked blouse.

The pack watched with tears in their eyes as well. They were too stunned to do anything, not that there was much they could do anyways. Paramedics finally arrived to rescue Lydia and Sheriff Stilinski was forced to remove his son from her body. Stiles wept into his dad's shoulder and barely move. "I can't... I can't... I can't" he said in a muffled voice. "I can't live without her." Nothing would give him the motivation to accept the truth.

She was really gone.