All I Need

To say she was exhausted is an understatement. Cassidy tried to get just an hour of sleep last night but her mind was on overdrive and wouldn’t shut down. Too much had happen in one night to even try to put her mind at ease. With Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa missing, Scott going with the Alphas, Ms. Blake being the Darach, and Cora dying there was too much to handle. Did she miss anything? Probably but it would all fill up eventually.

She pushed her bangs away from her eyes, thinking maybe her sight would increase but no, she was just that tired. She drug her feet along the school’s hallway, trying to stay out of everyone’s way. She couldn’t even tell you how she got to school that morning, everything was a complete blur. Cassidy slowly spun the dial of her lock and popped open her locker. The metal door swung to her right smacking the locker next to it lightly. She sighed while looking at the pictures she had stuck there.

The first one that caught her eye was group shot of her friends from over the summer. In a line stood Stiles, herself, Scott, Lydia, and Isaac. The five were all they had this summer. After Allison and Jackson left and Boyd and Erica went missing they stuck together as much as they could. The five had an actual real smile adorning their faces. This brought a smile to Cassidy’s lips as she admired the photo.

Her eyes casted over towards one of her and Isaac. It was a photo from the beginning of their freshman year, the two making stupid faces at the camera. The two of them had been best friends for years now. It was just them for years. They only ever had each other. The two friends relied on one another for happiness and through hard times. She was his rock and he was her salvation to fall into.

Finally, her favorite photo of them all, the one thing that brought her complete happiness and made her safest in the world, her boyfriend, Stiles. The photo was cheesy no doubt, something they tried to stray from, except when they were in complete bliss with each other. It showed in the image, the two standing chest to chest, her head tilted up to towards his, they were barring their teeth to each other. His eyes were squinted while hers were wide, showing she was about to burst into a laugh at any moment. He made her laugh. That was the biggest thing she loved about him.

Cassidy sighed and slowly switched the books from her bag and her locker. It was going to be the longest day of her life and all she really wanted to do with find her boyfriend and hug him till it all went away.

“Cas!”

Said girl’s head popped up and looking towards her right trying to find the voice.

“Cassidy!”

She found the owner to the voice. Lydia came sprinting towards her as fast as she could in the heels she wore. The strawberry blonde had a look on her face that screamed fear and worry.

“What, Lydia? What’s wrong?” The dark haired girl closed her locker, looking back at her friend in worry herself.

“It’s Stiles.” Lydia breathed out.

That’s all Cassidy needed to hear. “Where is he?” Starting to walk in the direction the blonde just came from.

“The locker room.” The two were now sprinting down the halls, everyone passing by them in a blur.
“He was panicking and kept saying to find you, that he needed you.”

She pushed the door opened with force, having it hit the wall in the darkened locker room. The sight in front of her almost brought tears to her own eyes. Stiles was on the ground, a hand over his pounding heart, taking sharp, quick breaths. She ran over to him, throwing her bag on the ground. She knelt in front of him, placing her hands on either side of his neck.

“Stiles, look at me.” She said softly to him.

He pulled his head up, his eyes widening with a type of relief washing over but not being able to calm. “C-Cas?”

“It’s me.” Her thumbs brushing against his cheeks. “You’ve got to calm down, Babe. You’ve got to take deep breaths.”

“I-I…I can’t. I can’t breathe, Cas.” His eyes jolting back and forth between hers. His heart pounding against his chest, ready to explode.

“Shh.” She hushed him slightly keeping her eyes locked with his. She grabbed one of his shaking hands and pressed his palm on her chest, over her heart. “Concentrate on my breathing. In and out, nice and slow.”

Stiles closed his eyes, trying to feel her breath. Just the feeling of her under his palm started to calm him. Something about her always calmed him. She was his light in all the darkness that was surrounding them. She was his hope in times of disaster. In all the times he tried to protect her and keep her out of harm’s way, her love was enough of a shield for him.

Cassidy could feel him slowly start to calm, his breaths getting deeper. “Lydia,” She turned slightly to find the girl by the doorway still, looking on at the couple, “I need you to find me a bottle of water.”

The girl nodded quickly and went off to find the item.

Her attention was brought back to her boyfriend. She rested her forehead against his moving her other hand to the back of his neck, wanting him to feel her all around him. “I’m right here, babe. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you, okay? I’m right here.”

He slowly brought his shaking hand up to her face, needing more of her. He believed every word that was spilling from her gorgeous lips.

She felt his breathing finally fall into a normal pace and let out the breath she didn’t even realizes she was holding till then. She let her lips fall against his, giving him a soft kiss, letting him know he was okay. He opened his eyes to find hers. They were finally clear, no more of the murky brown that they were a few minutes ago.

“Thank you.” His throat was hoarse from the attack.

“You don’t have to thank me.” She slowly sat down so that one leg was behind his back and her other was across his lap, the front of her body aligned with the side of his. “I just want to know you’re okay.”

He wrapped his arms around her torso and let his head fall on her chest. Her own wrapped around his shoulders, one of her hands slowly running through his hair. He gave her a simple kiss of thanks on the exposed skin on her neck where her sweater had ridden down.

“I meant it, Stiles. I’m not going anywhere.” She whispered to him.

He nodded his head and continued to listen to her heartbeat. He didn’t need to have werewolf sense to know if she was lying or not. He just needed to know her and he did. He loved her just as much as she loved him, which scared him and also elated him with joy.

“I know.” He lifted his body so he could be eye level with her. He kissed her gently. “That’s why I love you.”

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“I’m not okay with this.”

Stiles stopped his search throughout his father’s room and looked over at his girlfriend leaning against the doorframe. “I know it’s weird to be going through his stuff, but I need to find something.”

He continued his search. He needed to find something that had enough significance to his father, but nothing seemed right.

“It’s not that.” She shook her head, closing her eyes tight. “I don’t want you to do this.”

“Cas-“

“I can’t watch you die, Stiles.” A tear rolled down her cheek, the first tear she has cried during this whole situation. She had been holding herself together for the sake of him and their friends, but she was officially breaking. “I can’t do it.”

“Cas,” He walked over towards her, his hands falling to hold her face, much like she did for him earlier that day. “I’m gonna be fine.”

“No you’re not!” She pushed his hands away. “Stop saying that!” More tears fell. “Nothing about this is fine. This whole situation is so fucked up.”

“So what? You’re telling me to just let my dad die?!” He became angry. He couldn’t believe she wanted him to give up.

“No! God, no, I don’t mean that.” She rubbed her eyes. “There just has to be another way. There’s always another way.”

“Not this time, Cassidy! This is it. This is all we have. So I’m doing this because I’m getting my father back!” He knew he shouldn’t be yelling at her, she was only thinking about his own well-being. He just had so much pent up rage and anger inside of him he couldn’t stop himself.

She sniffed and nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound selfish about this. I just…” She cut herself off, feeling her throat closing in on her. She was really losing it. “I just love you so much. I hate seeing you hurting.” She broke down in sobs then. Her whole body racked back and forth, barely able to stand.

Stiles didn’t have to think twice about holding her. His arms were wrapped around her tightly, pulling her head into his neck. Her arms were locked around his torso, hands gripping the back of his shirt between her fingers.

“It’s okay, Cas.” He whispered into her hair, his hand locked in place on the back of her neck. He felt his own eyes began to water. “Everything is gonna be okay, pretty girl. I promise you.” He felt her cries start to settle and pulled her head so she would look him in the eyes. “I promise you, I’m coming back to you. Okay?”

She nodded, biting her bottom lip.

“Okay.” He laid a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“I…um, I have something for you.” She let go of him slowly and pulled him into his own room. She let go of his hand and grabbed her bag that was placed on his bed. She let her hand search the contents until her fingers were met with the cold metal she was looking for. She turned back to him with it grasped in her fist. “I found this at the school. I was going to give it back to you earlier, but then everything happened at the hospital.” She placed the metal in his hand.

Stiles looked down the metal Sheriff star in his hand. It was bent in half from Jennifer crushing it in her hand. He felt his eyes sting, but sucked in a breath to hold the tears back. “Thank you.” He looked up at her smiling softly. “This will work perfectly.”

“We just need to bend it back slightly.” She pushed her bangs away from her eyes, feeling them wet from her tears.

“You know how Deaton said that after all this is over I’ll always have a darkness surrounding my heart?” He let his other hand rest on her hip.

“Yeah?” She looked up at him confused on where he was going with this.

“I don’t think it will that hard for me to move past it. Because every time I feel the slightest bit of darkness, I just have to think of you. You make me so damn happy, some type of happiness I’ve never felt before.”

She couldn’t help the smile that graced her lips. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere.”