Drag Me Down Quick (So they don't notice)

Stiles Lives

Previously: Twelve steps. Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight-

The door flew open.

      Stiles hadn't given much thought to what he would say when he got to this point and it was for the better because the moment Scott came crashing out of the front door looking ready to kill someone all Stiles' words deserted him. 

      Scott. Even when Stiles had forgotten everything; his dad, his mom, Lydia, Derek, even Scott's name; he had remembered Scott's face, with that crooked jaw that had been the most constant fixture in Stiles' life since they had been three. It had kept him from breaking, kept him from selling his humanity even after he had sold his soul. And there he was. And Stiles remembered. 

      But Scott didn't look happy. He looked murderous. He saw Stiles and growled, eyes flashing red. Stiles suddenly remembered the hunters sitting in a car across the street and opened his mouth to tell Scott to put those away- 

      And he was pinned to his own keep, Scott's claws around his throat and his best friend's fangs snapping at his face. Stiles choked. 

       "Who are you?" Scott demanded, eyes blazing. "Where did you get his face? Did you think it would be funny? I've killed all the rest of them, I'll kill you too!" 

      Stiles scrabbled at Scott's hands, trying to get enough air to say something. Car doors slammed open and he heard Dean's voice yelling. 

      "Hey!" 

      It was like a switch had been flipped. Scott didn't move away but his claws and fangs retracted. His eyes were still glowing, that brilliant alpha red that Stiles still hadn't gotten used to. 

     "Hey!" Sam. They were there suddenly, pulling Scott off of him. Scott fought, shoving Sam off with a strength that obviously shocked him but Dean was there and so was Cas. They grabbed Scott from behind, holding his arms behind him. 

      "Enough!" Sam roared. Scott stopped fighting, slumping as if he realized that he wasn't winning despite his strength (thank God for angel power). He glared at Stiles and bared his teeth. "I don't care who you are, I'll kill you for wearing his face!"

      Stiles rubbed his throat. "I-" He began, but he couldn't breathe, there was a cord around his throat and fire in his lungs and- 

      A hand, on his shoulder. "Breathe." It was Dean. Stiles took a deep breath, then another. He could do this. He just needed to explain. 

     The front door opened again. Stiles looked automatically- and there was his dad. His dad, standing right there, on the front porch. His dad, looking aged in a way Stiles had never thought possible. His dad, and Scott's mom following him. Stiles felt tears pricking his eyes. 

      His dad had frozen. So had Melissa. Stiles had frozen too. Time stood still for just a second. Then Noah Stilinski took a hesitant step forward. 

     "Stiles?" 

     Stiles crumbled, falling to his knees in the driveway. "Dad. Dad, it's me." The tears began to come, even as he tried to hold them back. "It's me, Dad." 

     A cry seemed to rip itself out of his dad's body as he sprang forward with a spryness that Stiles would not have expected him to still possess. 

     Scott tried to rip away and stop him but Cas held him still. "Sheriff, that's not your son!" 

     Noah ignored him. He dropped to his knees in front of Stiles and jerked him into his arms. Stiles hugged him back just as fiercely. He remembered the first fifty years in hell, dreaming of this moment, of seeing his dad again and hugging him as he should have hugged him before he left.