AN: This is a new story that I am working on, the updates may be slow but I will try to keep up with them. I am officially stuck on my other two stories so hopefully working on this one will help me.

Title: Seeing Is Believing

Rating: T(for now)

Pairings: None for now but might turn into Stiles/Derek later

Spoilers: Nothing past the first season for now

Summary: Stiles had always had a connection with the dead. When he was younger he could see and talk to ghosts as if they were human. But then he couldn't see or hear them anymore. Now, as if all the drama about werewolves wasn't enough, his gift are starting to come back. How will this affect Stiles and can he use his returning gifts to help out his friends? Only time will tell.

Stiles had always had a close connection with the dead. Sometimes it was just whispered words or phrases, other times there was just a vague feeling. On rare occasions, Stiles could just make out a human-like silhouette.

It wasn't always like that though. Once upon a time Stiles would have conversations with those people. They would appear, like any normal everyday person. Stiles would smile and talk with them, as if they were friends and they would answer back, just as excited to talk to Stiles, or anyone really. Sometimes Stiles would hold a party with drinks (it was not a tea party, because those were for girls) and would invite them over.

At first his parents didn't know what to think about Stiles' little gift, thinking that Stiles' friends were just some imaginary friends that he had made up because he had no real friends at the time. That all changed though when Stiles was five and had mentioned one of his friends to his parents. Mrs. Ackerson from down the street had told Stiles today that she missed her son, who had moved to Ohio three years ago to live with her ex-husband.

John, who was just a deputy at the time, recognized the name and when he went to work the next day he confirmed his fears. Mrs. Ackerson had died of a drug overdose almost three years ago after her ex-husband had divorced her and moved to Ohio to live with the woman he had been cheating on her with. Unfortunately Mrs. Ackerson was a stay at home mother and therefore had no source of income, which meant that Mr. Ackerson had won the custody battle and had taken their two year old son with him.

That night John and Claudia had sat Stiles down in the living room and asked him how he knew so much about Mrs. Ackerson. Stiles was confused at first, because didn't they know? Mrs. Ackerson was his friend and talked to him every Thursday when Stiles would see her down the street. He would wave and she would smile. She would walk over to him, because Stiles couldn't leave the yard, and they would talk. He would tell her about his week and she would tell him stories about when she grew up. They were sometimes funny, but mostly sad and Stiles would try to make her happy again by offering her some of his toys to play with and she would smile and tell him that he was sweet but that he should play with them instead.

That week, when Thursday came around John and Claudia stood outside with Stiles as he played instead of just watching from inside like they usually did. After a few minutes had passed Stiles had stopped playing with his fire truck and started to wave down the street. John and Claudia both stood up and looked to where their son was waving only to see nobody there. They were confused at first and had asked Stiles who he was waving to. Stiles just gave his parents a 'duh' face and pointed to the empty air next to him.

"I'm waving to Mrs. Ackerson, mom. She's right here, can't you see her?" Stiles asked innocently.

"No honey, your father and I can't see her. Can you ask her why?" Claudia asked, always the patient and understanding one.

Stiles just shrugged and looked over to his left and asked the woman why his parents couldn't see her. After a few seconds he made an "oh" noise and nodded his head. "She says that she died a few years ago and that she's actually a ghost. But she says she's not a mean ghost, because those are actually called pole-ter-geese."

"Poltergeist, Honey Bear?"

"Yeah, that!" Stiles shouted with a grin. His mother always knew what he meant. "What is that?"

"It's a mean ghost that plays pranks on people," Claudia explained, walking off the porch and closer to her son. When she reached him she crouched down and looked him in the eye, smile still present on her beautiful face. "Honey Bear, where did you hear that word?"

Stiles giggled, "Just now silly, Mrs. Ackerson just told me it."

After an hour of conversations and explanations Claudia was finally able to understand more. She and John now knew that Mrs. Ackerson was not the only ghost Stiles could see and talk to and that Stiles didn't quite understand why nobody else at school could see them either. Eventually Claudia and John were able to explain to Stiles that what Stiles was seeing were ghosts and slowly explained to him that nobody else could see them, because nobody else was special like Stiles, not even them. Stiles was told not to tell anyone else about his gift, for fear that people might not understand or would want to take his gift away.

Stiles agreed and promised to not tell anyone else, not even the nice boy who just moved into town last week named Scott. Years passed and Stiles stayed true to his word and never told anyone about his gift. He still talked to the ghosts on occasion but not as much as he used to now that he was friends with Scott.

Everything was great and Stiles was happy. But then Stiles mom had gotten sick. At first it started off as small things, a cold here and a dizzy spell there. But then one day his mom fainted when he was at school. Erik Morse, a ghost who had died as a young boy and would sometimes wander Stiles' neighborhood, had showed up at Stiles' school and told him that his mom had fainted in the kitchen and needed help.

Stiles was only seven at the time and didn't know what to do. One minute he was working on his subtractions for math class and the next minute he was shouting at the teacher that his mom was hurt and that he needed to go help her. The teacher thought that Stiles was playing a prank on him and since Stiles couldn't tell him how he knew that he mom was hurt without telling him about his gift he just cried and told the teacher to call his dad, because his dad was the sheriff now and he would know what to do.

The teacher had told Stiles to sit down in his seat and finish his work sheet and that he would call his father and tell him what had happened. It was originally supposed to be a threat, since the teacher was sure that Stiles was only messing with him but a half hour later the Principal had come down to the class and told Stiles' teacher that he needed to talk to Stiles.

The teacher had pulled Stiles from the classroom and walked with him out to the hallway and asked the Principal what sort of punishment Stiles was going to get for disrupting his classroom for a prank. Stiles was crying now because he just knew, he knew, that his mom was hurt and that she needed her Honey Bear.

The Principal explained that Stiles wasn't actually in trouble. That after Stiles' dad had gotten the call he had headed home to check on Stiles' mom to make sure that she really was okay and that he had found her passed out in the kitchen. She was rushed to the hospital and was being looked over now but that the doctors think there might be something really wrong. Stiles was being pulled out of class because his father was sending a patrol car over to take him to the hospital to see his parents.

The teacher was speechless at first but had apologized to Stiles and the principal for just assuming that Stiles was lying. Stiles didn't care that he didn't believe him because he had called his dad anyway and had told his teacher as such. The principal had nodded his head and then lead Stiles to his office to wait for his ride.

When Stiles had arrived to the hospital it was to see his mom in one of the hospital beds with an IV stuck in her arm and his dad sitting in the chair next to her. When Claudia had seen her son walk in she grinned at him and motioned for him to climb onto the bed next to her, the side opposite of the IV.

Stiles carefully crawled into the bed and curled up next to his mom. They hugged and shared small puppy kisses with each other as doctors moved in and out of the room. They spoke but Stiles didn't really understand what they were saying to him. His father just nodded and asked questions while his mother just listened silently.

Stiles didn't want to hear what the doctors had to say anyway, because they never said anything good. They only said bad things, like how he needed shots or that he needed to take some nasty medicine to feel better. But if all his mommy needed to feel better was to take some nasty medicine then he could deal with that. He could even take it for her if she didn't want to.

Later, when all the doctors had left and it had become dark out his dad had explained to him that mom might be really sick and that she might have to stay for a few nights just to make sure nothing happens. Stiles nodded and asked if he could stay too because mom shouldn't have to sleep alone in a big scary hospital while he got to sleep in his nice bed at home. John agreed that it would be okay. He explained that he would have to go back to work but that he would be back with a change of clothes for Stiles tomorrow.

Stiles asked if he had to go back to school tomorrow because he really didn't want to go back when mommy might need him. Mom was sick, what if someone came to hurt her, Stiles needed to be there to protect her until mommy was better again. John smiled and shook his head before telling Stiles that since mommy was sick that Stiles could miss the rest of the week to watch over her. Stiles grinned and cuddled up to his mom again, making sure that she wasn't hurting.

Before his dad left for work that night he asked Stiles how he knew that mom had fainted. Stiles frowned because he didn't want to remember how he felt when he found out but told his dad and mom that Erik had told him since he saw mommy fall when he had walked past the kitchen window.

Claudia smiled and told Stiles to thank Erik the next time he saw him for her while John patted Stiles head and told him to thank Erik for him as well. But Stiles didn't get to see Erik again for a long time after that. A week had gone by of constant tests and needles for his mother before the doctors had finally found out what was wrong with her.

Claudia had a brain tumor. She had a very specific brain tumor called oligodendroglioma, which was a type of glioma tumor that grew in the frontal and temporal parts of the brain. Unfortunately they were not lucky enough to only get a grade 1, or even 2 type of growth. Claudia had a grade 3 growth that required for her to go into immediate surgery to get most of it removed. Then, once it was removed Claudia had to have MRIs and radiotherapy and take some medicine to make sure that the tumor didn't grow back.

Stiles went back to school because he couldn't miss any more days. He didn't tell anyone what had happened, not even Scott. Nearly three weeks after his mom fainted Stiles finally saw Erik again. He thanked him and hugged him because without Erik's help his mom might not have gotten the help she needed when she needed it.

A month of treatment went by before Stiles' mom could finally come home. She was tired all the time and she was always in pain. One night Stiles woke up to hear his mom crying in the bathroom because she was losing her hair. Stiles knew him mommy didn't want to lose her hair because she didn't think she would be pretty anymore, but that wasn't true because his mommy was always pretty. So, that weekend when his mom took him to the hair salon to shave off the rest of her hair, Stiles had hopped into the seat next to hers and asked the lady to shave his hair off too so he would look just as pretty as his mom. Claudia cried again but when Stiles had asked why she was sad she only shook her head and told him that her tears were tears of joy.

Despite all of the problems and the pain that plagued her days Claudia always had a smile for Stiles when he got home from school. She would help him with his homework when he was stuck on a question. She even made his favorite dish for dinner on his birthday; taco twist. It was his favorite because it had all the taste of a taco with all the fun of a twisty noddle casserole. Scott was also there for the party and had some as well. He didn't think he would like it at first because it looked weird and had a funny name, but as soon as he took his first bite he was scarfing it down and asking for a second plate.

Sometimes Stiles would forget that his mom was sick, but then something would happen and it would come crashing down again. Sometimes his mom would get really dizzy just standing up. Sometimes she would get sick at the smell of something, like cooking meat with grease or strong coffee and she would have to go to the bathroom or the nearest trash can and throw up. She didn't like it when Stiles would see her like that and would tell him to look away but he wouldn't, because his mommy needed him. So Stiles would grab a cold rag and dab at the back of his mom's neck, like dad would do sometimes, and rub her back while singing Bohemian Rhapsody until she was better again.

This went on for a while, and Stiles would sometimes wish that his mom would get better. He started talking to some of the ghosts that visited still and he would tell them about how his mom was the best and that if she got better he would take her to all his favorite places again and have fun because mom doesn't have as much fun as she used to.

Almost a year after the first treatment Stile's mom had had her first seizure. She had been sitting in the living room watching the Amazing Spiderman with Stiles and John when it had hit. She started shaking really bad and Stiles was freaking out because he didn't know what to do. Why was mommy moving like that? Was she hurt? Dad had shouted for Stiles to call 911 and give him the phone. Stiles had stood there, frozen for a second in fear before snapping out of it and running for the phone in the kitchen and dialing 911 like his daddy had taught him.

The ambulance had arrived and took him mom away on a stretcher, rushing her to the hospital. Dad had grabbed a bag and shoved a few things into it before telling Stiles to get into his patrol car. Stiles and his dad had driven to the hospital in near silence, both worrying about Claudia and wondering if she would be okay.

When they arrived to the hospital the doctors had told them that his mom was okay now and that she just needed to rest. John and Stiles had walked into the room and Stiles nearly cried again just seeing his mom hooked up to so many machines. She looked so small a frail just lying there.

Just like last time Claudia had smiled at Stiles and motioned for him to join her on the bed. Stiles climbed up next to her and cried into her shoulder, telling her how he thought he had almost lost her. Claudia just hugged him and held him, letting Stiles cry until he felt a little better again.

The doctors had told them that the tumor was growing again and that they would have to have more treatments to slow it down. Stiles hated whenever his mom had to have a treatment because she would always be especially tired for a few days afterwards. But he knew that if his mom was going to get better she had to do it.

Things went back to normal again after that. They only had two more close calls in the couple years that followed. However, by the time that Stiles was ten, his mom had gotten so sick that she had to stay in a hospital bed with machines hooked up to her. Stiles would visit her every day after school and tell her about his day. Sometimes, when he was extra sad he would cry and promise her that he would act better and not be so hyper all the time if she would just get better. Whenever that happened his mother would cry too and tell him that he was her perfect Honey Bear, and that she wouldn't change him for the world.

At times Stiles really hated the hospital because so many people had died there. But, unlike his other friends, these ghosts were always crying or would demand Stiles to tell their family messages for them. Stiles wished that they would just leave him alone so he could just spend some alone time with his mom.

Whenever Stiles couldn't be at the hospital and his dad was stuck at work Stiles would have to be babysat. Stiles was not a baby, no matter what Scott said, so he liked to call it Stiles'sitting instead. A nice lady, who was a senior in high school, would come over and watch him. Her name was Laura Hale and she was very pretty, just like his mom before she got really sick. Stiles' mom was still very pretty, just not in the same way anymore.

Laura would make Stiles dinner (a healthy meal because he was a growing boy and he didn't need junk food) and then they would go to the living room and play a game or watch a movie. She would let him pick what to watch, so long as it was appropriate, and he would let her pick the games they played. She was smart and funny and Stiles really liked her because she let him stay up till 11 on weekends so long as all his homework and chores were done.

Laura was like the big sister or the aunt Stiles always wanted. She even told Stiles that she thought he was like one of her little brothers as well. She would sometimes talk about her family with him whenever they were eating dinner. She would talk about all her siblings, her older and younger ones, and she would tell stories about her many aunt, uncles, and cousins as well. She even had a niece already because her older sister was married and had a child last year.

Stiles really liked her and every once and awhile he would think about what it would be like to tell Laura about his gift. She would probably smile and hug him and accept him for who he was. But then Stiles would remember his promise to his mother and father and forget about telling her.

By now Stiles would only talk with his ghost friends at night when he was supposed to be asleep, when his father was home, or when he was sure that Laura was busy downstairs and she couldn't hear him. His ghost friends knew that Stiles wasn't trying to ignore them and would accept his apologies whenever he would go more than a day without talking to them.

But tragedy struck when a couple of months before Stiles eleventh birthday his mother had finally passed away. Stiles had just entered the hospital room where Claudia had been staying for the last eight months. She was really sick that day and was telling Stiles how much she loved him and how her Honey Bear was going to grow into such a strong and wonderful man one day. Stiles just smiled, thinking his mom was just really happy that day. When it finally came to the time that Stiles would normally be taken home by Laura Claudia asked for Stiles not to leave her just yet. Stiles didn't know why mommy wanted him to stay all of the sudden but didn't think anything of it because if mommy wanted to have a sleep over at the hospital then Stiles would stay with her. That night before Stiles went to sleep Claudia had started to cry and hugged him till he almost couldn't breathe. She held on for a really long time, but Stiles didn't mind because even though he couldn't stay still for very long due to ADHD he could always manage to stay still for his mother's hugs. They stayed like that for a while until his mom pulled away and kissed him on the forehead. She had tears running down her checks as she told him that she was proud of him.

Stiles didn't know why mommy was so sad all of a sudden. Mommy was crying really hard right now and Stiles didn't know how to help her be happy again. Climbing into the bed next to her, like he usually did when he wanted to be closer to her, Stiles curled up at her side and wrapped his small hand in her frail one. Their fingers wrapped around each other's as Claudia silently cried. Stiles frowned at how weak his mother's grip was but just squeezed it tighter to show that he was still there for her. A few minutes passed in silence as they stayed like that, just holding on and comforting each other.

Slowly and gradually Stiles' mom's grip began to get weaker and weaker. Stiles didn't know what that meant so he just brought up his other hand and joined it with his other one, so that her hand was covered with both of his. He brought the now slack hand up to his face and kissed the knuckles. Stiles closed his eyes before turning his head up to look at his mother, wanting to see her smile one more time before falling asleep.

But he never got to see it.

When Stiles first looked up he thought his mother was just asleep because she looked so peaceful just lying there. When Stiles called out for his mother she didn't stir or move. He called again but still nothing. Her hand was now completely slack in Stiles' hands and was starting to turn cold. Tears began to fall down Stiles' face as he continued to call out for his mother but even shaking her shoulders didn't raise a reaction from her.

Stiles' cry for his mother became so loud at one point that a nurse had come in to see what the matter was. A moment later she shouted for a doctor to come in, which caused a lot of men and woman with lab coats to come in and crowd the bed around Stiles and his mom. One of the nurses tried to pull Stiles from his mom but he wouldn't let go of her hand. He knew what was going on but he didn't want to believe that it was true.

An hour later Stiles was sitting in his dad's lap outside of her room as he cried. Stiles gripped his dad's shirt as he cried for hours. John cried silently with Stiles, both mourning for the amazing woman that they had just lost. Laura had showed up later, after she had heard the news, and asked if there was anything she could do. Stiles just shook his head as he cried harder, knowing that there wasn't anything Laura could do, no matter how great she was.

That night Stiles and his dad had fallen asleep together in his dad's bed, holding on to each other in fear of losing someone else that night. Stiles missed the rest of the school year since there was only two weeks left anyway. The funeral for his mom was four days after she had passed; something simple and small with family and friends. Laura had shown up along with her mom and two of her younger siblings that Stiles didn't remember the names of.

A month went by filled with tears and pain. A month where Stiles had locked himself in his room and refused to come out for anything or anyone. A month where Stiles' dad had worked himself day and night, afraid to stay still for longer than a minute in case he began to think about that night. A month filled with constant panic attacks that made Stiles' feel like his heart was going to burst. A month before Stiles realized that the friends that he used to see with such clarity were no longer there, making him feel so much more alone.

Then things got worse when less than two months after Stiles' mom had past Laura's family all burned in a fire. Laura left town right after with her brother, the only ones to make it out of the fire alive and unhurt because they had been at school. She never even stopped to say goodbye to Stiles and that's what made her absence hurt more than his ghost friends.

The years passed and Stiles still had panic attacks on occasionally. His father stopped working all day and night but still worked longer than Stiles had liked. Scott became Stiles' only friend since Stiles could no longer talk to and see ghosts. Over the years Stiles made a mask for himself to hide his hurt behind. He was goofy and smiled a lot, he joked and talked nonstop about anything and everything to fill the silence that now plagued his everyday life. Stiles got a crush on Lydia, a beautiful girl with a big brain that would never go for a guy like him, to cover up the fact that Stiles didn't think he deserve to be loved.

Stiles would occasionally visit the grave site where his mother was buried in hopes that he might see her there, just like he used to see Mrs. Ackerson or Erik, or any of his old ghost friends. But every time Stiles' heart would sank a little further when he only saw tombstones and flowers. On occasion, when Stiles was particularly sad and feeling down, he could swear he could feel her standing next to him, but when he would look there would be nothing there.

Though Stiles couldn't see or hear the dead like he used to he still felt a connection with them. Sometimes, when he would visit the hospital with Scott to see his friend's mom, he would get a feeling that didn't belong to him. Sometimes, when Stiles was with his dad at a crime scene he could see a dark shadow hanging around. And on one rare occurrence, when Stiles was at a scene where a man was killed he tripped and almost fell into the stretcher that was moving the dead body from the scene and he could have sworn he heard a voice tell him that the murder weapon was under the couch.

Stiles almost brushed it off as just the wind but after hearing an officer tell his dad that they couldn't find a murder weapon he pulled his dad to the side and told him to check under the couch. His dad just gave him a funny look, knowing that Stiles had not seen or heard a ghost in almost five years, before sighing and telling the nearest officer to check under the couches. Five minutes later they were bagging a kitchen knife as evidence to be dusted for fingerprints later.

After that Stiles realized how much he missed talking to and seeing ghosts. How he missed the conversations, the stories, the feeling that he got whenever he would learn about his friends. That was why when Stiles over heard over the police scanner about half a body that was found in the woods he just had to find the other half of the body for himself. Stiles had a theory that the closer he was to the dead body the better the connection he got with them. If he could just find the other half of the body then maybe he could talk to the ghost of the victim and get their story or some information that he could tell his dad so that he could find the murderer faster. If Stiles could help his dad with the case then maybe he wouldn't have to work himself so hard all of the time.

But Stiles didn't get to find the other half of the body before his dad caught him and forced Stiles to go home, leaving Scott in the woods all by himself. That was when everything changed for Scott and for him.