I'll Be There

The hospital was lacking the usual crowd that always seemed to be coming in and out through the doors. This took Cassidy by surprise but also put her at a slight ease. She continued her way down the hall, her converse squeaking against the freshly cleaned linoleum, until she reached her destination. She quietly waited as the person in front of her finished their questions and left. Her thumb found its way to her mouth as she started gnawing on the flesh surrounding her nail, a habit she has had since she started going to her therapist many years ago out of nerves. Boy, if she actually told him what really happen in her day to day life she would be sent straight to the looney bin.

The person in front of her finally left and she was face to face with Melissa McCall. The small smile the older women sent to the younger one gave Cassidy a sigh of relief.

“Hi, honey.” Melissa stood from her seat and walked around the desk to be in front of the young girl. “I guess Scott told you.”

“Y-yeah.” She cleared her throat. This was the first time she spoke since she found out earlier that day that her boyfriend had went to the hospital. “How is he?”

“Asleep, thanks to the sedative that I had given him. I’m pretty positive he would have lost more sleep if not.”

“What do you mean?” Cassidy questioned her, confused by the statement.

Melissa sighed. “I’m really not supposed to be telling you this.”

“Melissa, please. He hasn’t been himself since the whole sacrifice thing.” The girl pleaded. “I need to know if he is okay. I just need to know he is going to be alright.”

The older women nodded and took a quick look around to see if any of her staff was there. “Follow me.” She led her down a few halls until they stopped where there was no one around them. “He told me he has only gotten 8 hours of sleep.”

“A night?” Cassidy asked, confused why that was an issue.

“In the past three nights.”

Her face fell.

“He also said he was starting to sleep walk when he was asleep.” Melissa watched her go through the thoughts in her head. “Cassidy, have you known about this?”

Cassidy shook her head. “No…no he hasn’t said anything.” She ran her hands through her hair. “I knew he was having problems a couple weeks ago, but I thought everything was back to normal.”

“He also mentioned hallucinations and that his anxiety was starting to get out of control. Now I believe most of that has to do to the sleep deprivation. You have insomnia yourself, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So you haven’t noticed the same patterns with him?”

She knew Melissa wasn’t trying to embarrass her by asking a personal question like that. Yes, she had insomnia problems. Yes, the two have slept in the same bed together. But no, she hadn’t noticed the signs. She had learned to deal with her sleeping issues for years now; she was just lead to believe he was beyond stressed about everything. And that was how she was trying to help him. Here she was actually misdiagnosing him.

“In all honestly, we haven’t slept near each other in a while.” Her eyes were full of desperation. “I just need to know if he is going to be.”

“When he wakes up he should feel somewhat better, still exhausted but his body should have gotten the rest it needs for the next day.” Melissa nodded her head into the direction of the door that they were next to.

Cassidy honestly hadn’t taken notice to it before. She looked around Melissa and into the window of the door to find the answer she was looking for. There he was, lying on the bed sleeping peacefully. “Can I go in?”

Melissa gave her another smile. “Stay as long as you want. I’ll be off my shift in a few minutes and I don’t want him to wake up alone.”

“Thanks, Melissa.”

The older woman gave her a squeeze on the shoulder and walked back towards the nurse’s desk.

Cassidy knew he was fine, she knew he wasn't hurt or in some sort of pain but walking through the door was almost impossible for her to do. It was nearly impossible to envision anything good while you're in a hospital, but she had to be a big girl. She had to toughen up quick and go be the strength that had been lacking in his usual demeanor. She took a deep breath, blinked the clouded judgment away and opened the door.

It was quiet. Eerily quiet. The shades were drawn shut, allowing just tight streams of the sun setting outside. There was no beeping that usually presented itself when walking into a room because he wasn't hooked up to any machine. The only thing to be heard was his deep intake of air as he slept soundly in the bed. She took her time to walk to the chair that was stationed next to his bed. It wasn't actually his bed though. Not the bed where the two of them would usually lounge around on, watch movies, sleep cuddled close, or make love in. It was a hospital bed that only fit one person. It was the thick, scratchy white sheets, not his dark blue ones that felt like silk against her skin. It smelled of disinfectant and bleach, not the usual detergent and axe.

Cassidy pulled the chair across the floor until it was basically attached to the bed. She hovered over the side of the bed a minute though. She pushed his hair that had fallen slightly off of his forehead and leaned down to kiss the same spot. His skin was warm against her lips, almost as if he was running a fever. His skin was still the pale color from earlier and the reddish purple bruises under his eyes were still heavy. She grabbed his hoodie that was placed at the end of the bed and put it on herself. Cassidy took a deep breath of the familiar scent, feeling of a security blanket around her body. She finally sat down in the chair and sat there staring at him for a while.

“Hi.” She whispered softly. “I know you can’t hear me and I know people don’t usually talk unless the other person is in a coma. But you’re fine. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.” She softly took his hand in hers. “That’s what you keep telling me.” She left her head fall down to his hand and kissed his knuckles.

“But I know you’re not.” Tears rushed to her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about the lack of sleep? About your hallucinations becoming more vivid? What’s happening, Stiles?” The tears started leaking down her cheeks. She hadn’t cried since the night of the sacrifice. The night that had broken him into two. “Y-you need to s-start letting us in. Your dad, Scott, anyone. Let us help you, cause you’re always hel-helping us.” She stuttered through the tears.

She let go of his hand and doubled over in her seat. Her hands found their way to her hair and she started pulling, trying to feel another pain over her emotional agony that was just sitting in her chest. “I promised you from the beginning I’m staying right here. I’m not leaving your side.” She ran her hands through her hair and looked over at him again. “I just need you to tell me you’re going to be okay and mean it. Because I swear to god, Stiles, if something happens to you and I could have stopped it…I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

That was a big thing for Cassidy. She had a problem in believing in herself or just thinking she was good enough in general. She wasn’t the type of person that put her problems out on the table, but if you knew her well enough you would find those traits hidden deep inside of her. Stiles found them and he pulled her out of it. He proved to her that she was able to be loved and she was good enough. When they started dating, when she insecure thoughts about thinking Lydia still was more important to Stiles, and just letting someone other than her family or Isaac fall into her life.

She sat and watched him for a while. She hadn’t realized she fell asleep till her shoulder was being shaken. Cassidy quickly jumped up in her seat, a deep breath being taken from her shock.

“Hey, hey it’s ok. It’s just me.” Scott said from a squatted position to her right.

Cassidy’s heart started to calm down as she looked at the boy next to her. Her eyes quickly relocated to the empty bed that was next to her. “Where’s Stiles?”

“I was going to ask you.” Scott stood from his spot, worry taking over his features.

“I don’t know. I don’t even remember falling asleep.” She stood up quickly with panic running through her body.

“Come on.” Scott grabbed her arm the two of them left the room.

The two made their way down the empty halls of the hospital. It was nearing midnight and there weren’t many people here at that time. The two looked into door after door not finding him.

“Cas.” Scott stopped to a halt in front of a double door.

She quickly slid up next to him, the two of them finding the person of interest on the other side. They both pushed the doors open and walked through with caution. Stiles just stood in the middle of the room with his back turned towards them.

“Stiles…” Scott called out, the apprehension clear in his voice. “You okay?”

Said boy turned towards the two with a questioning look on his face. “Yeah, fine.” He answered easily. “What’s been going on?” Stiles walked towards the two of them.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Cas looked up into her boyfriend’s eyes.

“I went to look for Melissa, I didn’t want to wake you till I knew I could leave.” He looked down, letting his hand travel to her hip; a spot where it was commonly placed.

She gave him a closed mouth smile. She tried to believe him, but there was something off. But how do you tell your boyfriend that you know he’s lying?