Chapter One
April 2011

Peter slowly approached the house when he saw his nephew sitting on the front steps. He threw a bag at his feet and he said, "You need to go check on your human."

Derek frowned and as he cautiously approached the bag he asked, "What?"

"Your human," Peter repeated as if that explained everything. When he saw Derek still wasn't getting it he rolled his eyes and he explained, "Stiles, the only one in your pack of misfit toys I don't dislike."

Derek scowled and ground out, "He's not my human. He's part of Scott's pack."

Peter shook his head and argued, "No nephew, he really isn't, when Scott left the warehouse he went with Chris and Allison, he didn't even give Stiles a second glance. Even I could smell with my diminished senses that Stiles was injured, seriously injured, and it wasn't from driving his Jeep through the wall. He couldn't even get out of the jeep when Jackson jumped on the hood."

Peter crouched down and he opened the bag at his feet, he explained, "I followed Gerard out of that warehouse. He stunk of blood, some of it was your wayward betas. But most of it was Stiles' blood, and there was a fair bit of it judging by the smell."

Derek glanced in the bag and he grimaced at seeing Gerard's head still covered in black goo. "Do I need to worry about reprisals for this?"

Peter shook his head, "No, I left the rest of him in various wild animal dens in the preserve. This is going to the hunters council with the evidence I have collected proving he ordered Kate to annihilate several peaceful packs. They have already been investigating after the fire that took out our family. While you are checking on Stiles I will go have words with Christopher about your betas. I think he needs a reminder about the fact that this is Hale territory, not Argent territory."

Derek shook his head and he walked to the car, as he opened the door he turned to his uncle and he glanced down at the bag and he said, "Thank you. Just, well, thanks. I will let you know what's going on with Stiles as soon as I know." He was grateful they had talked over Laura's death and that Peter had agreed to therapy sessions with his therapist from New York via Skype, the agreement, along with the pack bond, allowed him to trust that Peter would do everything he could to protect Hale Pack territory as his left hand.

Derek pulled up at the Stilinski house behind the Jeep, he was surprised to see Stiles sitting in the Jeep not moving. He slowly approached the driver's side and he quietly opened the door so as not to scare Stiles.

Stiles wheezed, "Hey Sourwolf… if you are… here for my… epic google… fu I am afraid… you are shit… outta luck."

Derek leaned in and he could smell the blood hidden under the layer of fresh clothes, he could also hear Stiles usual rabbiting heart rate almost skyrocketing as he struggled to breathe. He leaned in and he quietly asked, "If I move you is that likely to cause more damage from broken bones shifting? Or do I need to call an ambulance?"

Stiles smirked sardonically, and he slowly wheezed, "I think… any more damage… was done… when I drove… Roscoe… through a wall… into a lizard. Adrenaline can… only take me… so far."

Derek leaned in and he gently lifted Stiles out of the Jeep and as he moved to place Stiles in the passenger seat of the Camaro he pulled what pain he could. Unfortunately, Stiles was in more pain than was practical for one wolf to pull. He said, "Give me a minute to lock up the Jeep and make sure the house is secure then we will get you to the hospital."

Stiles pulled on Derek's sleeve urgently when Derek eventually got into the driver's side of the Camaro, he said, "No Melissa." He saw Derek frown so he clarified, "She will tell… Scott."

Derek shook his head, he explained, "I will remind her that HIPAA exists for a reason. I will also get Peter to find and explain things to your Dad before he sees you. You're a mess, Stiles. Gerard really did a number on you."

Stiles nodded slightly, "Find… your betas…"

Derek started the car as he confirmed, "Peter is already at the Argent house looking for them." He asked, "Is there anything else I should know before we go to the hospital?"

Stiles nodded slightly, he gestured to himself with the less injured hand and he wheezed, "Allison… helped."

"Well fuck!" Derek exclaimed resignedly. He asked, "Chris?"

Stiles shook his head, he wheezed, "He had… no idea…"

Derek pulled out and he headed to the hospital as he drove he made a call. He knew it wasn't a great move while driving and he could smell Stiles' disapproval sharp through the coppery smell of blood, but it was urgent.

As soon as the call connected he snapped out, "Peter, I am taking him to hospital. Yep. Did you find Chris? Good. Make it clear to him that Allison stays the fuck away from all of us. She helped torture Stiles and that means she likely helped with the betas. Stiles confirmed Gerard has them. Fuck, ok. Look, you need to find the Sheriff. He needs to know whats going on before you bring him to the hospital. Yes, all of it. Oh stop being a baby, he doesn't have wolfsbane in his bullets. Once I get Stiles sorted at the hospital we will regroup and start the search for the betas. The sheriff may even be able to help with the search parties if we make it official."

He hung up just as he pulled into the hospital car park. He parked up in a quiet corner then reached in and lifted Stiles gently out of the Camaro. He said, "Are you with me, Stiles."

Stiles nodded slightly, he confirmed with a wheezy, "Yep… Just painful… Pain suck helped… Thanks."

Derek carried him into the ER and he called out, "I need help!"

When the nurse came over with a gurney he gently put Stiles down. Stiles reached out and grabbed his sleeve and refused to let go. "Don't… leave…"

Derek nodded, he confirmed, "I will stay until your dad gets here ok."

Melissa bustled over, she said, "What have you gotten into now Stiles? Let me go call Noah and Scott."

Stiles looked shocked and he looked at the original nurse and he wheezed a panicked, her name was Kara according to her name tag, "No!"

Derek smelled the hurt radiating from Stiles and he said, "No, I already have someone out looking for the Sheriff and if you call or even hint to Scott about Stiles being here I will have you up on every HIPAA charge I can find. I won't have him here stressing him out and victim shaming considering it was his psycho girlfriend and her grandfather that did this to him."

She scoffed and she asked, "How do we know it wasn't you who did this. You were recently accused of murder, twice."

Derek raised an eyebrow and counted with, "You would know considering it was your son that accused me both times. Given that Stiles is using the last of his strength to make sure I don't leave him alone in here I think he has made his feelings clear. Until he or his father says otherwise, you won't be treating him and Scott doesn't find out. Clear?"

She snapped out an angry, "Crystal." Before she stalked off to call in the on-call doctors.

Derek looked down to see Stiles looking relieved. He said, "Thanks… Sourwolf."

He looked up to see the nurse checking Stiles over, he asked, "Kara? Can we get him somewhere private? I would like to see him somewhere safe and out of the visual range of anyone looking to finish the job."

Kara nodded and she pushed the gurney with help from Derek to one of the private treatment rooms to wait for the on-call doctor. She held up her scissors and she explained, "Stiles?" She waited until she could see Stiles was mostly paying attention, she could see he was fairly out of it due to the pain he was in, "I need to cut your clothing off so the doctor can do a full assessment of your injuries, are you ok doing this with your friend in the room."

Stiles nodded and increased his grip on Derek's sleeve. Derek used his foot to pull one of the chairs over to beside the gurney and when he sat down he pulled Stiles' hand and he interlaced their fingers. He murmured into Stiles' ear, "Relax, I won't go anywhere until your Dad arrives. Ok?"

Stiles nodded and he looked relieved, he looked at the scissors then back at Kara and he wheezed, "Go… For it."

As she was cutting off the clothing and putting it into plastic bags she asked, "Do we need to run a kit, Stiles?"

Stiles shook his head and he confirmed, "No… Just threats."

Derek gently squeezed Stiles hand, he confirmed, "His attacker's granddaughter was in the room helping with the torture."

Stiles smirked, "He said… she had limits… whips and chains… are fine… rape is not… ok…"

Derek muttered, "He's fine with it when it's his daughter doing it."

Stiles squeezed his hand in support. He looked over when the doctor barged into the room.

He saw Stiles on the gurney his torso and face already black and blue. "I'm Dr. Crowley, can someone tell me what happened here?"

Derek squeezed Stiles' hand and he looked at him and said, "Let me, save your breath for actually breathing." He looked up at the doctor and he explained, "Stiles disappeared from the Lacrosse field after the championship game. From what Stiles has told me he was taken by Gerard Argent, the school principal, he was being held in a basement with two of the teens I tutor, Erica Reyes and Vernon Boyd. He had Erica and Boyd bound but he spent at least 6 hours torturing Stiles, he said Gerard kept asking about me and the tutoring I do. I saw Stiles an hour ago in his Jeep and he looked banged up but ok and he told me about Erica and Boyd and he asked me to check on them. I went to see them but neither of them has made it home. Something told me to check on Stiles and I found him in his driveway, still in his Jeep struggling to breathe so I brought him here."

Derek looked over at Stiles and found him looking back with wide eyes, Stiles wheezed, "You found… words Sourwolf… so proud."

Dr. Crowley started his examination of Stiles, he said, "Speaking is clearly an issue so we will use the blink system ok. Typical one blink for yes, two blinks for no. Ok?"

Stiles blinked.

They went through the examination, an ultrasound, and a head injury check and once Stiles was hooked up for fluid replacement Dr. Crowley sent Stiles off for x-rays. Kara accompanied them so she could assist in radiology and get the X-rays done faster. While they were waiting, a text came through to Derek's phone.

From Peter: Found Stiles phone smashed in the Argent basement, will organize a replacement. On my way to the hospital with the Sheriff. He is alerting deputies to kidnapping and your missing betas.

To Peter: K. Waiting for Stiles to finish in X-ray, Melissa angry, threatened her with HIPAA charges if she told Scott. Warn the sheriff. She is angry.

From Peter: Scott already tried to blame Stiles for being kidnapped. The sheriff just stared at him until he went away.

To Peter: We will be back in the ER soon. Text when you are outside and I will ask the nurse to find you.

As they headed back down to the ER Derek squeezed Stiles' hand and he asked Kara, "The sheriff and my uncle are on their way to the hospital. When they get here can you get someone to bring them back here?"

Kara nodded, she confirmed, "Leave it with me." She ducked out to organize it.

While she was out Derek said, "Peter found your phone, it looks like Gerard or Allison destroyed it, he said he will organize a replacement for you. Knowing Peter he will do what he can to recover the data from your old phone for you." He glanced up at the door to make sure it wasn't going to open suddenly and he heard Kara outside arranging for the Sheriff and a civilian to be escorted back when they arrive. He murmured quietly, "Peter explained everything to your dad. He's organizing for search parties for the betas. He's pissed at Scott who was at the Argents."

Derek looked down and he felt bad for asking but he had to know, he asked, "Did you know what Scott had planned for me?"

Stiles frowned in confusion and he blinked twice.

Derek took a deep breath and he said, "Scott worked with Gerard as he wanted the bite. Scott held me while I was under the influence of Kanima venom and he forced me to bite Gerard."

Stiles blinked many times rapidly. He said, "Hell no… That's like… rape." Stiles looked horrified.

Kara walked back into the room accompanied by the Sheriff and Peter. Noah almost ran to the bed. "Jesus kiddo. What a way to celebrate your birthday, what did that bastard do to you?"

Stiles rolled his eyes and wheezed, "What didn't… he do. Allison only… used the… shock stick."

Dr. Crowley chose that moment to walk in with a folder full of X-rays. He turned to face the group and he looked at Stiles as he asked, "Are you happy for everyone to be here as we discuss your injuries?"

Stiles blinked and he refused to relinquish Derek's hand.

The doctor flicked on the lightboxes and he placed several X-rays for viewing. He started, "From what we can gather he was hit with a blunt instrument at some point across his ribs and as he can see here," He gestured to the first lightbox, "He has 4 broken ribs on his right side which is why he is having difficulty breathing. You can see here this one is a complete break and we would like to go in stabilize it with pins and plates."

Noah nodded in agreement so Dr. Crowley moved to the next box, "Stiles also has a break in his forearm which is what we often see in someone who is using their arm to shield their head from a blow. It has moved around a bit judging by the swelling so we would like to also pin and plate the break to give him the best chance of healing."

Noah asked, "What sort of healing time frame are we looking at for the surgery vs just putting it in a cast? Will the break heal without the surgery?"

Dr. Crowley shook his head and he pointed at the various points in the break as he explained, "There is a 50/50 chance that if we just put it in a cast that the bone will set wrong and it will need to be re-broken in the future so it sets properly."

Peter asked, "What about the bruising? Doesn't severe bruising often indicate internal damage?"

Dr. Crowley nodded, he said, "We did an ultrasound earlier and while he has bruised kidneys and there is obviously an issue with his breathing, there was luckily no damage to any of his other internal organs and his lungs do appear to be ok. He does have severe bruising and blood loss due to lacerations from what looks like a whip or something similar so we would like to keep him in for a few days after the surgery to make sure the wounds don't get infected and that he has no complications from the surgery." He turned to Stiles and he asked, "Stiles have you eaten anything since lunchtime?"

Stiles shook his head and blinked twice.

Dr. Crowley turned to Noah and he said, "I have a nurse organizing the consent forms now at the nurses station, I would like to get him into surgery so we can sort his rib and get a chest drain in asap."

Noah nodded, he looked down and he saw that Stiles had dozed off, he asked, "Can you please make sure that any visitors are cleared through myself or one of the Hales? And I would prefer that either myself or one of the Hales are with him at all times. I don't have the manpower to assign a deputy to him due to the recent losses but he is still at risk as Gerard Argent is in the wind and we can't arrest Allison until we have a statement from Stiles detailing what happened."

Peter cleared his throat as the doctor nodded, "Also can you please make sure Nurse McCall isn't assigned to him. Her son is dating one of his attackers. She's already had a go at him tonight with a side of subtle victim-blaming."

Dr. Crowley nodded as he left to find the consent forms.

Noah turned to Derek and he asked, "Can you stay with him for now? I want to get the search parties started for both Gerard and the two teens who are still missing. Chris Argent said he found them in the basement after the warehouse incident and he released them but they haven't returned home."

Derek nodded, he turned to Peter and he said, "You keep him safe and both of you keep in touch. Peter make sure the sheriff has my number."

Peter nodded and they both headed to find Dr. Crowley at the nurse's station to sign the consent forms.