Black Water ↠ Stiles Stilinski [Teen Wolf, Vol. One]

Suspension of Disbelief

Oh hey, it didn't take me 84 years this time.

Please comment & review....validation sustains me.

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Chapter 17 - Suspension of Disbelief

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"Wait, so it was an actual mountain lion?"

Charlie wasn't well versed in the Beacon Hills nightlife, but if this evening was any indication, the hospital was the place to be. For such a small town it generated a hell of a lot of patients. None in dire circumstances, mind you. At least not for now. A few bumps and bruises, a couple of scrapes here and there. Not too terrible given the night's events. Relatively speaking.

Three times in a month now Charlie had wound up at the hospital, this time explicitly by choice. Ambulance lights flashed at the emergency room entryway where she stood, drawn back against a concrete wall, arms wrapped around her middle to ward off the cold. Her head throbbed as she tried to arrange the clusterfuck that was parent teacher conferences into a coherent picture. Start with the corners, build your way in. A predator stalking between cars, mass chaos, two gunshots that didn't come from the sheriff's weapon. Slow steps towards the circle that had gathered a few yards before the school doors. An animal wheezing its last few breaths in a pool of its own blood while smoke wafted from the barrel of a gun. Allison's hands clasped over her mouth in horror. Scott's wide, terrified eyes. Mr. Argent's tight-lipped stoicism as he stood over his kill, the glint in his eye as cold as the steel of the gun in his hand.

"Yo, earth to Oz," Donald's voice insisted. "It was an actual, honest to God mountain lion?"

An empty gurney shoved by, giving Charlie a start. "Uh, erm, yeah," she muttered, keeping her voice low. Hospital staff darted past her with too much purpose to be listening in, but better safe than sorry. "Yeah, Donald, it was your standard mountain lion. No 'zoinks' or 'jinkies' or anything. Just your garden variety mountain lion attacking a school parking lot. You know, as mountain lions do."

"Wait, so the thing in the video—"

"Was not what I saw in the parking lot," Charlie said, shaking her head. "Definitely not the same thing. The mountain lion was small, skinny. It didn't have a snout. And it's eyes weren't red."

"Ugh, thank God."

"Thank God?"

"Well, yeah!" Donald scoffed. "After all this build up if it ended up being something as friggin' lame as an actual mountain lion that would be disappointing on an epic level."

A quick glance through the hospital doors invited a view of couples huddled together, stroking hair and whispering comforts. "Trust me, normal shit can be plenty damaging. Plenty of people get hurt by normal."

Regret impregnated the pause that followed on Donald's end of the line. "....Right..." he murmured. "How is the sheriff doing? The paramedics said he'd be okay, right?"

Charlie's eyes flicked back through the emergency room doors. Sheriff Stilinski had kicked her out of his room ten minutes ago. Which...you know...fair enough. Grilling the nurses about how they were coding the insurance did her no favors. Nor did jokingly asking him for his credit card information as she filled out his forms. Hell, he objected when she climbed into the ambulance with him to begin with, but between her firm insistence that Stiles would want someone with him and Mel's quiet acceptance—encouragement even—she fought her way in. And at least when Stiles got the call, the other end had a friendly voice. Whatever cold comfort that might bring.