Stay with Me (Stalia)

Chapter 17

The rest of the pack, except Derek, Braeden, and Argent, rushed in sometime later to find the Sheriff, Scott, Malia, and Lydia sitting tiredly in chairs.

"What's happening?" Kira asked, going to sit next to Scott and taking his hand. The movement sent a sudden pang of longing through Malia.

"He's in surgery" The Sheriff answered, his voice thick with unshed tears. Malia knew it was taking all that he had not to fall apart. She was feeling the same way, but a quote from a book she just read kept coming back to her,

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."

Suzanne Collins really knew what she was talking about. Malia knew that if she let herself go, if she gave into the hysteria that wanted to spill over, she might be totally consumed. She needed to stay strong for Stiles and for her friends. They needed to devote all of their focus on him, not on her mental breakdown.

"Is he going to be okay?" Liam asked, his eyes wide and filled with fear. Malia knew she was only a few years older than him, but at times like this he just looked so young and vulnerable.

"We don't know...they won't tell us much" Lydia responded. Liam came and sat next to Malia, leaning his head on her shoulder. The others settled themselves in chairs or on the floor. No one talked for a long time as they waited for any news.

Finally, what seemed like hours later, Melissa finally came into the waiting area. They were all on their feet immediately, each one asking about Stiles.

"We patching him up as best we could, we had to reset his leg. He had several broken ribs and internal bleeding as well as many cuts that needed to be sewn up. The bullet in his shoulder was removed without too much difficulty, it only caused damage in the muscle it was embedded in. He was dehydrated and hypothermic and lost a lot of blood. He's not out of the woods yet but in time if there are no other complications, which there very well could be, he should heal from these injuries..." Melissa said this all very slowly as if there was something more horrible she wasn't telling them. Malia couldn't imagine what could be worse than what she had just heard. The others seemed to sense that something was not right as well as they were all silently staring at Melissa, waiting for her to continue.

"Heal from these injuries? Does he have some other injury?" Malia finally asked, not being able to bear the suspense anymore.

"He sustained a substantial amount of injury to his head. We are keeping him in an induced coma until the swelling in his brain goes down, we will not be able to tell the amount of damage until he wakes up." Malia didn't know much about medical terms, but the phrase induced coma did not sound friendly and based on the tension and fear she felt from everyone else she knew that this was a very serious matter.

"When will he be taken out of the coma? When will he wake up?" Scott asked, his voice shaking. Mrs. McCall went over to her son and embraced him.

"It's hard to say, it all depends on how long it takes the swelling to go down. I'm sorry, I wish I could give you a more concrete answer." Scott's arms tightened around his mother's and he buried his head into his shoulder.

"When can we see him?" Isaac asked and Malia could tell he was trying to act braver than he felt. The lanky boy was playing with his scarf and not looking at anyone, Malia suspected that if he had looked up she would see tears in his blue eyes. At this moment, she was glad he didn't, she couldn't handle the sight of other's grief and fear on top of her own.

"Soon, the Doctors are just finishing getting him settled in his room. I'm going to warn you guys, it will look a little scary. He is very beat up and he will be connected to a lot of machines and tubes and wires."