Not even a Lannisters Send their Regards

[fadingspark]

The thing about winter is that the sun still sets early, leaving a person to leave their job in darkness. The parking lot outside of Stilinski Designs was lit only by one street lamp. Stiles, having worked later than normal, was jiggling his keys as he stood with Bill and Lyle for 20 minutes, working out a coding problem they were having before he finally left the office for his car.

"Of course the day we have code issues is the first Monday of the year," he muttered, shaking his keys as he tried to find the right one for the jeep. Just as he finds it, there is a shadow from the light that falls over him, making him look up.

Someone stood there, all in black down to the mouth-less ski mask. The gun aimed at him made Stiles gulp, and he went to raise his hands. "Okay, just take it easy... I'm not going to..."

The gunshot rang out, and Stiles shut his eyes a moment before he felt the impact in his stomach. Time seemed to slow down as his keys slipped from his fingers, and then he fell to his knees He looked back up at the masked person, and they just watched a moment.

"What... not witty line?" Not even a Lannisters send their regards. The masked person just walked away moments before the door to the building opened and Billy and Lyle came running out. Stiles tried to call to them, but he instead looked down at where one of his hands had gone to touch the sore part of his stomach and it came back red.

"Stiles?" Billy took a few steps forward, looking to see if there was anyone else there but the parking lot was now empty. "Stiles!" At that, they both ran to him, and Billy pulled Stiles into him as they knelt beside him, hands going to press into the bleeding wound. "Come on, buddy, stay with us."

Lyle was calling 911, and then while he was talking to them on headset, his fingers were playing on his phone and he knelt down to show Billy the wiki-how on treating gunshot wounds. Billy nodded, going through the checklist and doing his best to keep Stiles conscious and talking to him.

But as the pain started to overcome him, even as he heard the sirens approaching, Stiles gripped Billy's arm. "Tell Dina... and Cora..."

"Nuh uh, you're going to tell them anything themselves," Billy said as he nodded for Lyle to wave the ambulance down. "Just hang on, Stiles."

"Tell them... I love them..." he said, and then he just passed out to the pain.

-------------

Once they were at the hospital, Billy and Lyle were on their phones calling the others. But first, they make the calls to the emergency contacts: Sheriff Stilinski, and Talia Hale. They are both told the same thing: Stiles was shot. Stomach. Didn't see who did it. He's in surgery. Doctors won't tell them anything more. Santa Clarita Midtown Hospital. The cops are coming to talk to them, so they will wait.

And the two will wait, shaken to their bones as they wait for someone to arrive who can get more news.

They had all thought this was over. Was it? Or was it just Stiles being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Comments

[impetere]

Cora nods to Scott, and reaches up to brush a hand over the top of Stiles's head. "Hey, it's okay. You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?" There's a pause as she runs her fingers through his hair. "You can just shake your head yes or no."

[fadingspark]

Stiles shakes his head no, but everything's fuzzy right now that he barely understands what she means by hospital.

And then Scott is back with water and the nurse, and she is going to check on him quickly and make notes for the doctor who has been paged. She warns Scott to give him the water slowly, which he does until Stiles pulls his lips away.

"What.... what happened?" Stiles finally asked, confused.

[impetere]

Cora sits back in her chair again, putting him more on his level, but she keeps her hand in his. Her thumb brushes softly against the back of his hand as she talks, trying to keep things soothing and calm.

"You were shot. You're in Santa Clarita Midtown Hospital."

[fadingspark]

He's confused, and his eyes try to look past her at the little board on the wall behind Cora with the name of the nurse, the date, and the pain scale. He blinks. "Thursday?"

[impetere]

She nods, shifting a bit to bring his eyes back to hers. "It was bad, Stiles. You had to have surgery, and you were out for a few days."

[fadingspark]

"But you're fine now," Scott emphasized. "You just need to take it easy while you recover, but you're fine."

Stiles blinked, then looked around the rest of the room and his eyes fell on Lydia. He didn't know why, but something in the back of his head was trying to tell him something about her and he couldn't figure out what.

[impetere]

Lydia looks right back at him, wondering if he remembers anything of that little episode of hers. If he doesn't, she won't take it personally. She honestly didn't expect him to.

Sometimes she feels like she made it up herself.

"Just rest. We'll take care of everything else."

[fadingspark]

He nodded to her, then looked back at Cora. "Dina?"

[impetere]

"She's fine," Cora hasn't seen her as she's been here, but she doesn't want Stiles to worry all the same. And to be fair, it was the first question she asked as soon as someone came back to the hospital.

"She's been with my dad most of the time, and Allison. Sometimes Malia and Isaac. She misses you, but she's okay."

[fadingspark]

"Good." He nods, single words sentences being his friend right now. He tries to shift in the bed, and then groans in pain as his stomach points out that nope, not ready for you to be moving at all, Stiles. His hand grips Cora's tighter at that.

[impetere]

She squeezes his hand tightly in return, using that contact to pull some of the pain from him. She can tell there's a lot, and he doesn't deserve to feel it if she can help it.

"Just rest, okay? All we need you to do right now is get better."

[fadingspark]

His eyes flutter as he feels the pain fading and he resettles in the bed, but keeps holding her hand. "Okay," he says softly. Sadly, this is something he's used to. Well, not being shot - this is actually a first - but being in a hospital and told to rest.

[impetere]

She smiles softly, before reaching up to brush her fingers through his hair. "I'm gonna stay right here, okay? I'm not going anywhere." I won't let anything else happen to you is the silent promise, but she doesn't think she needs to say it.

[fadingspark]

He would point out that it's impossible to promise that, but he nods, his eyes drifting back closed as he fell back asleep.

"I'm still all for buying him a personal bubble," Scott pointed out from his corner of the room.

[impetere]

Cora laughs softly, before giving a bit of a shrug, still pulling whatever pain she can before easing up just slightly.

"It's not like he couldn't still work from it."

[fadingspark]

Scott laughed. "Come on, Dina would have a blast rolling her daddy around. She doesn't need a hamster."

[impetere]

Cora laughs a little louder, shaking her head. "Sure. Until she got him near a set of stairs. Or rolled him into a tree." It's not Scott's best idea, though she would be lying if she said it didn't have it's appeal.

[fadingspark]

Scott laughed as well, then shrugged. "Bubble wrap suit then?" it was easier to laugh now that Stiles had woken up for a bit.

[impetere]

"I like that one better," she nods. "Easier for him to have actual physical contact with people that way." She's feeling a bit lighter herself, now that she's seen him and talked to him, even if it's just for a little while.

[fadingspark]

Scott is totally about to say something, but Talia's in the room and he just wisely shuts up and drinks his coffee.

About an hour later, John returns. "The nurse said he woke up?"

[impetere]

Cora nods with a smile when she sees him, not pulling away from Stiles, but moving a bit so John could get closer.

"For a little bit, yeah. He doesn't remember anything about what happened - he didn't even remember being shot."

[fadingspark]

"It could just be the drugs. Morphine makes it hard to remember anything." He rubbed Stiles' leg through the blanket. "Melissa and I have been talking to the doctors, and since he's stable and we've pretty much ruled out the Graysons from this, we're going to get him transferred back up to Beacon Hills Medical so Jason and Melissa can take over his care."

[impetere]

Cora exhales slowly as she nods, giving Stiles's hand a soft squeeze as she does. "Good. He'll like being closer to home better. Then Dina can come and see him."

[fadingspark]

John nodded. "Yeah, which should help her too. We kept her out of preschool today since it's Melissa's day off. She really misses him." He looked over at Talia. "We just need to figure out where he's going to go after he's released since he's going to be down for a good month."

[impetere]

"Having him at the house shouldn't be a problem," she replies, straightening in her chair a bit. "I can rework one of the downstairs rooms as a bedroom."

"I can move back home for a little while too. Extra hands can't hurt."