Know Better - A Stydia AU

Chapter 9

"Lydia?"

He narrows his eyes at the bright light from the, what? Is it a ceiling? He hears something being dragged, a chair, he thinks, and in a second he sees strawberry blonde hovering above him.

"Stiles."

He doesn't answer right away, it's hard to breathe. It feels like he's being stabbed with every breath he takes. He tries to move and reach out for her but he can't. Everything hurts.

"Shh, don't move," she says. "It's okay. You're okay." Her hand strokes his hair softly as she waits for his eyes to adjust to the light. When he does, he smiles and tries to reach for her again, but it hurts. Every single thing hurts. "Stay still for me, okay? I'll just go call the nurse and I'll be right back."

He's at the hospital, he assumes, and vaguely remembers what happened. "No, Lydia..."

"It'll only take a second. Please, don't move," she pleads. His nod is weak. She kisses his forehead and as quickly as she came into his field of view, she's out.

She's not even gone for a minute, but Stiles gets anxious. He notices an IV in his arm and electrodes on his torso. Soon, the machine he's attached to starts beeping, only stopping when Lydia gets back. She goes stand at his left, holding his hand and stroking his hair again. She's teary, he notices.

"I'm here, I'm here. The nurse will come here soon to check on you." She bites her lower lip. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit." He focuses on keeping his breathing slow to avoid the pain, without much success. "How bad is it?"

"You have a bruised knee, several broken ribs and a concussion. And your right hand is swollen and looks really bad, but nothing's broken. There are lots of cuts and bruises pretty much everywhere. The doctors want to keep you here a couple of days for observation."

"And my face?" He tries to lighten the mood because now she's crying and he can't wipe away her tears. "Am I still good looking?"

Lydia chuckles. "No, but I think you're safe. You'll heal." Her hand falls from his hair to his face. "You have a nasty gash here," she says as her thumb brushes his cheekbone. He winces at her touch. "And there are a lot of bruises, but you'll be okay." It sounds to him like Lydia is saying that more to reassure herself than him.

"Are you okay?" he whispers, squeezing her hand.

"No, not really," she says, shaking her head. "I mean, I am, nothing happened to me. It's just... You scared the hell out of me, you idiot. What were you thinking?"

"I don't know. I just reacted, I didn't think. I tried to fight them but they were stronger. And that car, it came out of nowhere..." He moves on the bed trying to get a little more comfortable. "It's all I remember."

"You hit your head pretty hard when you fell. You lost consciousness for a few seconds, but you were talking in the ambulance. Maybe you just don't remember yet. They sedated you when you got to the hospital. You've been out since then."

He looks around slowly, disconcerted. It's day already. "What time is it?"

"Around 2:30pm, I think. Your dad and Melissa went downstairs to grab something to eat."

"Have you eaten yet? You look a little pale." He pauses to take a good look at her. "And tired. Lydia, have you slept?"

"You know I can't sleep when I'm nervous." He tries to move again but ends up whining, sore. "Will you stay still?" she scolds.

"Have you met me?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

She sits carefully next to him and looks down at their hands. "I just don't want you to be in any more pain."