Ignite

Flight of the Jailbirds

The night before Cora was allowed out of the hospital, Officer Stilinski sat them all down to talk. Cora, Derek, and Laura all sat on Cora’s bed, feeling more like children than ever. Officer Stilinski had taken a chair, and sat in a way that made it clear this was the last place he wanted to be.

“The official report has been written up for the incident at your home,” he began unsteadily. His hands kept twitching, and Derek could practically smell the dread coming off of him. “It has been declared to have been started by a malfunction in the gas pipes beneath the house, and is being written off as an accident.”

Cora looked at Officer Stilinski with wide brown eyes. “The doors were nailed shut,” she whispered. “It wasn’t an accident.”

Officer Stilinski sighed. “I know that,” he said. “But whoever is behind this has some friends in high places, and are using them to cover this up. The case is officially closed, but I’m going to keep digging with some of the other officers; see what I can find.” He sighed again, his shoulders heaving tiredly. “Now about tomorrow…”

“We’re going to stay in Uncle Peter’s apartment for the time being,” Laura told him. “We’ll figure things out from there.”

Officer Stilinski nodded. “That’s fine. What I wanted to talk to you about was leaving the hospital specifically. You guys probably already know that your family has been the subject of a lot of focus because of this tragedy, and that’s going to make you all targets for a lot of press attention. The hospital has kept them out while you’ve been here, but the moment you get out those doors, they’re going to be onto you. Now the plan is to get you guys out of here as fast as possible so they can’t bother you, but we don’t know how well that’s going to work. I just want you to be prepared for what’s coming. They’re going to mob you with cameras in your faces and asking questions, and the best thing you can do is ignore them.”

“What measures are the police taking?” Laura asked, eyeing him critically.

Officer Stilinski’s shoulders sagged a little. “I wish I could say they were taking more,” he told her. “We’ve got two officers on crowd control, and I’ll be driving you guys out of here, but that’s pretty much it.”

Laura did her best to not roll her eyes. “Great.”

 

---

 

Stiles was back in the morning with muffins and a bag of new clothes from the department store. Derek managed a real smile when he saw him, and accepted the bags gratefully.

“I had to guess on sizes for all of you, but I think I got close enough,” Stiles told him. “There’s also some toothbrushes and shampoo in there, along with some other little things I thought you might need.”

“Thanks, Stiles.” Derek meant it, truly, and he hoped Stiles knew it. Stiles smiled and nodded at him, waved at Cora, and closed the door behind him as he left.

Laura appeared at Derek’s shoulder, taking the department store bag and shuffling through it. “He wasn’t kidding,” she said. “He really was thorough with this.” She glanced up at Derek. “I think you have an admirer.”

“Don’t.” Derek brushed past her, taking a seat on the far side of Peter’s bed. Laura watched him with the first sign of amusement she’d shown since the accident, but let Derek sulk in peace.

They ate in silence and outfitted themselves in the clean clothes Stiles had bought them, which much to Derek’s surprise and amusement fit rather well, and were much the style of their usual wardrobes. Cora slipped into a new loose-fitting grey t-shirt, jeans, and a fake black leather jacket-- a must-have in the Hale wardrobe it seemed. Her arms were better, but she still winced when she bent her fingers, and the skin looked like it would be scarred for good.