Remember, I Love You (Steter)

Chapter 4

Peter surges forward, pulling Stiles wallet out of his pocket and rifling through it.

"Money? Worthless." He lets the cash fall to the ground. "Driver's license. Credit cards?" Peter tosses them somewhere over his shoulder.

"Give me my damn wallet back."

"It's all meaningless." He grabs the one thing Stiles has left, the keys to his Jeep.

"Give me my keys." Stiles voice is hard now.

Peter sneers and flings the keys out of sight, and they clang somewhere in the distance. "What, did you think you were going to drive us out of here? Is that what you thought? Don't you get it? We don't exist. And we are already forgotten."

They both stare at each other. Both angry and frustrated.

"Somebody's going to remember me." Stiles says. "Either Lydia, Scott, Malia or someone. They're going to find me, all right? They'll come for me. Who would ever come for you?."

Peter searches Stiles face then nods, the sadness morphing back to anger. "You give me a call when your high school sweethearts conjure up a plan to get you out of here."

And with that, Peter turns on his heel, and storms out of the tunnel, leaving Stiles alone.

**

Stiles followed Peter back through the tunnel and sat down on the bench.

The old woman sat next to him turned to face him. "I'm waiting for a train." she said.

"Thanks, It's probably running late." Stiles told her.

"I'm going to see my grandchildren. Who are you going to see?."

"No one." Stiles said.

An announcement crackles over the speakers.

'The following stops have been cancelled. Hollatine, Baddon, Bay Burry, Deer Ridge, Red Oak, Trenton, Anderson, King Springs'

'There's a PA system.' Stiles thinks to himself, the sound of all the passengers shuffling past to the platforms.

Stiles scans the room for the source of the announcements. After a moment, he finds the speaker on the wall, nestled into a corner near the arrivals board. Stiles sees where the wire leads from it, across the room and back towards the other end of the station.

Peter is standing by a pillar watching stiles.

"Intercom." he says. "Maybe radio?."

"Let's go have a look." Stiles suggests.

They walk around the communications room looking at the machines and all the different knobs and wires. It was like a maze.

"Your theory is ridiculous." Peter says. "Magnetic disturbances and a few pixelated photos doesn't mean you can use a hand radio to communicate across a supernatural barrier. Ghost Riders can't be seen, heard or remembered. Do you really think they would leave a gadget around so you can use it to call your friends?"

Peter turns a knob and it makes a high pitched noise causing them both to cover their ears.

Stiles carries on looking at the wires.

"Take your time, no rush. " Peter says sarcastically. "Only thing at stake is any evidence of our existence, soon to be.... forgotton."

"Okay, not helping." Stiles says.

When Stiles turns another knob, Peter hears the Ghost Riders coming and quickly grabs Stiles and pulls him from the room.

They both hide behind a pillar watching as a Ghost Rider enters the room looking around.

"In case your keeping count, that's twice I've saved your life today." Peter says.

**

Stiles must have fallen a sleep, and wakes up with a jolt.

He sighs and looks at the still and silent people.

Peter isn't on his usual bench, and the frustration and panic grow in equal measure as Stiles searches the train station for him. A series of one-sided arguments run through Stiles mind, thinking of all the things he'll say to the other man. Of course, it's all moot when he does eventually find Peter.

"No." Peter says before Stiles can even open his mouth.

"No?" he repeats, frowning at Peter.

"You are going to ask me to help figure out a way out, or explore some new thing, or test some other bullshit theory and my answer is no. I'm not interested."

"Great." Stiles says. "So fucking helpful."

"I aim to please." Peter says

"I bet." Stiles snaps.

"Now, if there isn't anything else." Peter says, tipping his head towards the direction Stiles came from.

"Right" Stiles mumbles and marches off as the rage starts to course through his veins. If Peter doesn’t want him around, fine.

Stiles forgot how difficult Peter can be. He supposed it wasn't his fault. Peter was taken by The Wild Hunt, after all, and his existence was wiped from everyone's mind. But in the time that Stiles had been in the phantom train station, the sight of a single familiar face had been such a relief that he hadn’t even stopped to think about what being stuck with Peter Hale would really be like.

What really frustrates Stiles is that he knows how helpful Peter can be when he wants to be. When Stiles thinks back to the Kanima, it was Peter who unlocked the key to saving Jackson. When Stiles had spent all that time in Derek's loft looking for Erica and Boyd, it was Peter who had realized that Boyd's rescue was a trap. Stiles wouldn't have survived the Nogistune, if it wasn’t for Peter's help. The man just always had an extra piece of knowledge that was missing.

And though Peter had also manipulated them all on multiple occasions, some worse than others, Stiles could grudgingly admit that, as horrific as it was, Peter's return to life using Lydia was an impressive use of magical loopholes. And an impressive use of magical loopholes is exactly what they need right now.

Stiles finds himself wandering back to the communications room, at a loss for what else to do on his own. But he will be damned if Peter dismissing him will prevent him from trying everything he can to reach someone on the other side.

He takes a moment to really assess everything that's in the room and starts to build a plan to methodically work his way through all of the equipment. And then he gets to work.