Stay with Me (Stalia)

Chapter 18

If Malia squeezed his hand any harder she was liable to break it. Not that Scott could blame her, they were all incredibly nervous. It had been 3 days since they had brought Stiles into the hospital. 3 of the worse days in his life. He had spent practically the whole time here although he had made a trip to Derek's loft where they were keeping Kyle, the apparent kidnapper turned savior. He wanted to hear what Derek thought of Kyle's story and if he thought they could trust him. Derek, Braeden, and Argent had come to the conclusion that they thought Kyle was telling the truth, but they all decided that it was better to keep him under watch until Stiles woke up and could confirm his story.

With that settled, Scott had focused on the new task of finding a cover story for the 3 previous omegas. He wanted them to live normal lives in Beacon Hills or as normal as a supernatural could in the town. Scott was confident that Argent, Braeden, and Parrish had enough connections between them to come up with a story and paperwork to back it up.

Scott had made sure that the rest of the pack had gone back to school for the past few days. He needed them to get back to living their lives and they all just kept getting in the way at the hospital. He had not been able to convince Malia or Lydia however. He knew it was no use separating Malia from Stiles and Lydia assured him that her grades were good enough to survive a few missing days of school.

For three days, they had sat watch in Stiles' room with his father. For three days, they had watched the boy breath but do little else. It was odd seeing his normal fidgety friend remain so eerily still. Scott's mom had warned them that he might sometimes twitch, but so far Stiles hadn't moved a muscle.

Now finally after three days of torture, Stiles' swelling had gone down enough for them to bring him out of the induced coma. His mom had seemed pleased with his progress when she announced the news. Now the entire pack was packed into the small hospital room as his mom explained what was happening.

"We've taken him off the medicine that was causing the coma, it will be working its way out of his system. Once it is out he should wake up and if all goes well it could be in a couple of hours."

"What if all doesn't go well?" The Sheriff asked quietly. Scott cringed at the thought, but he knew the Sheriff just liked to have all of the information, even the painful to hear stuff.

"He has responded well to treatment, his swelling went down as expected, we will have to look for any lasting damage once he wakes up, but we haven't found any indications that he won't wake up after the medicine wears off." His mom answered. Scott noticed that she skirted around the answer, but the Sheriff seemed appeased so he let it go. It was better to think positive anyways. In a couple hours, his best friend was going to open up his eyes and crack some stupid joke and they would all be on the way to getting back to normal.

*****

You could cut the tension with a knife.

Malia had always thought that saying was a bit weird and she had never really understood what it meant. At least she hadn't understood until this moment. Sitting in Stiles' room, waiting as the minutes ticked by for him to wake up. She could actually feel the tension in the air. It was like a living breathing thing. A monster that was standing over each one of them, invading their personal space and slowly driving them all crazy. Malia wished she could actually cut the tension with a knife. Maybe if she killed the monster they would all be able to breathe normally.

Melissa had said if all went well it would be a couple of hours. Apparently all was not well as they had just passed the 4-hour mark and Stiles was still unconscious. Melissa had come in several times to check on him, but all she could tell them was that he vitals were good and that he would wake up when he was ready.

God, Malia hoped he was ready soon. She kept staring at him, hoping that if she concentrated hard enough she could will him to wake up. Every second that his eyes remained closed was torture. She needed him to be okay. She needed him to wake up and smile at her and show her that he was going to be okay. She needed him.

*****

Melissa went through her rounds like a ghost. Her body automatically did what she needed to do, but her mind was in an entirely different place. Her mind was in that room with Stiles and the Sheriff and her son and all of their friends.

She knew what Stiles not waking up yet meant. It meant that there was something stopping him. It meant that there was something wrong. If everything was working perfectly in his brain he would've woken up already.

"Melissa, are you ready?" A voice brought her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Dr. Peters, Stiles' doctor, waiting for her. He had graciously agreed to wait until she finished her rounds to talk to Stiles' dad and friends. She wanted to be there for them in whatever way possible.

"Yes, sorry Doctor." She said as she fell into step beside him. They were both quiet as they walked down the hall. Telling someone that their loved one had slipped into a coma was one of the worst things about the job. There was something utterly horrific about the uncertainty of it all. They did not always know the cause of the coma, and therefore, are unable to do much to help the situation.They never knew how long it would last. It could be a few days, a few months, or the patient could never wake up again. And they also never knew how much brain damage the patient might have received. Sometimes people woke up and were never the same again.

Melissa hated going through this with a group of strangers, but it was going to be infinitely harder with a group of people she knew and patient she loved as a son. She couldn't imagine Stiles never waking up again and she couldn't imagine Stiles waking up and not being the same joyful, enthusiastic, full of life kid he used to be. Yet she knew the chances of Stiles being that kid again were slim to none. Even if he managed to wake up with no significant brain damage, he had been through a traumatic situation and Melissa knew he would never be the same.

'You ready?" Dr. Peters stopped with his hand on the doorknob to give her a sympathetic look. She nodded and they walked inside. She let Dr. Peters take the lead with the breaking the news and explaining Stiles' condition. She could barely handle thinking about what was happening to Stiles, so she certainly couldn't handle talking out loud about it to his loved ones.

Melissa tuned out most of Dr. Peters' talk about Comas. One phrase kept echoing around her head. Try as she might she couldn't get it out.

Might never wake up...

Stiles might never wake up.

Stiles.

Might.

Never.

Wake.

Up.