Liquid Silver

Twenty Seven

It took Stiles another half hour to arrive. By then Theo and Malia were gone, and Liam and Hayden were passed out in Scott's room far beyond revival until at least tomorrow afternoon Jem suspected. The NBA play offs were still running their highlights, and still no one was paying any attention.

When he knocked on the door the other three in the room let Jem answer it alone, and suddenly the television seemed all the more interesting as they left her to be alone with Stiles for a few minutes. Somehow she managed to retell the result of reading the book to her brother without crying. Her voice was shaky, and she stumbled on her words a lot, trying not to look in the spot of the room where she had been so sure her mother was standing.

"Jem-" Stiles could only stammer when she finished, picking at her fingernails and looking at the floor. She let him wrap her into his arms tightly, burying her head into his warm sweater and sinking into the familiar feeling of her big brother's comfort. The hum of the refrigerator and distant, infrequent cheers from the television filled in the silence between them. He struggled to say anything else for a few minutes. "I'm so sorry" he eventually sighed, making Jem confused.

She pushed away from him gently, looking up to see his big brown eyes were glossy with tears. "You should never have read it, I should never have made you-"

"Stiles" she cut him off. "I needed to see it." She believed her own words honestly. Yes, it was probably the most awful thing that could have been cooked up in her worst nightmares, and yes, she felt horrible about it. But she was already accepting that fact that it was the truth, and regardless of everything else, she had to be grateful that she did have the truth.

Even so, when she looked at her big brothers face, laced with confusion and regret, somehow her heart sank a little more than it already had. 

"I guess we should tell dad" he murmured, not meeting her eyes. Her throat seemed to tighten a little at the idea of doing so. He noticed the way she tensed up. "He should know... right"

"Stiles I know you think it's better that way but-" She paused. Just imagining the way her dad's world had been turned entirely upside down in the last year was enough to make her heart ache for him. To turn around and tell him everything he thought about his own wife, the love of his life, and the way that he had lost her wasn't even true... It would be cruel. She didn't need to finish her sentence for him to know what she was thinking. 

He sighed before agreeing. "Some things are better left unsaid." They shared a look of pity before Jem let her head fall into her brother's chest again. This was gonna take a hell of a lot of time to get over. "However-" Stiles gently pushed her away from him after a few moments of comfortable silence. "-We could at least go home so he doesn't stay up freaking out all night" 

Jem couldn't help but let out a breath of what almost sounded like laughter. Only because the likelihood was that if their father wasn't still stuck at the office then he would have already passed out from sleep deprivation. "You're right" she agreed, regardless. Stiles kept watching her as she glanced down at her hands, eyes running over the tender scabs on her wrist and fresher cuts on her palms, one hand running over the other. He noticed the way they were still shaking. 

He had to take another sigh before mumbling his next suggestion. "Go get your- boyfriend" he said the word as if it physically hurt him, and she raised an eyebrow at him in surprise, as if he was mentally hurt. "Maybe you shouldn't be alone tonight" he reasoned quickly, and she tried not to look too shocked about it. A month, maybe even a week ago, he would have just slept on the chair or the ground beside her bed himself if he was so worried about her nightmares or paranoia. 

The change of heart was definitely out of character, but she wasn't complaining. It took so much for Stiles to even think about trusting people, so the idea that he might finally be warming up to Brett was the best news she'd had in weeks. They said some brief goodbyes, made uncomfortable by the pitiful looks thrown Jem's way. She knew they felt sorry for her now, and it just made things worse to think that her friends now only saw her as some sort of wounded puppy they'd have to creep around from now on.