The flight from New Orleans to Los Angeles was a little over three hours long, just about everyone was asleep accept Peter and Pete who were getting acquainted, and Isaac was talking quietly to Jacob. They left in one of Chris's friend's private planes at 0230 hours that put their arrival time at approximately 0330 hours since LA was 2 hours behind.
Peter was very happy meeting young Pete; He felt his family was a little bit bigger today than yesterday.
"Your mother and I were close growing up, when we were children, she spent time in the condo we just left. Malia was a wild child like myself, we used to take my father's convertible and cruise the town at night when everyone was asleep." Pete looked shocked,
"My mom was very strict with me while I was growing up." He smiled, "She is in Governor's Point now. When my folks divorced, mom kept dads last name, she was very worried about the name Hale after that horrible fire." Peter sighed,
"I'm just very happy to know that you were not in attendance that evening." Pete looked out the window,
"Yeah, dad wanted mom to stay away from her side of the family, as he called you all, Way word Losers." Peter smirked,
"Your father wasn't big fan to the supernatural, I believe his family had ties to the hunters in Beacon Hills, but I couldn't prove it."
Chris woke up, glancing across the plane, he looked at the group of men he led in a successful rescue, he turned to see Michael doting over Stiles, Peter and Pete were still chatting, Isaac and Jacob were getting know each other, with Ethan and Jackson laying in the back row.
Michael looked at Stiles and continued to pet his hair, he was feeling an overwhelming rush of affection for Stiles, from the moment they kissed at the abandoned park, his attachment grew substantially, he had no idea why, there wasn't a reference book to help guide them through their change. Stiles had somehow managed to lay his head on Michael's lap. He was feeling at odds with himself, the memory lapses were draining him emotionally. The one thing Stiles did know, was he was crazy for Michael.
Chris could see Michael's eyes, it was as though Michael was "drinking in" Stiles features with his eyes, mesmerized, he inhaled through his nose as his lips formed a smile. Chris stood up an sat across from Michael and Stiles.
"How are you holding up." Michael looked at Stiles laying there,
"I'm ok, pretty sure I have a couple broken ribs, but I'm more concerned about him, when we land, I want to get him to the hospital as soon as we can." Chris looked at him patiently,
"That's not going to be a problem, is he still having memory lapses?" Michael shook his head yes,
"Sir, I can't lose him, he was all I thought of while they were torturing us. His smile kept me sane." Chris looked serious,
"Hold on to that love son, oh and when we get time, I will try to help you through your new dilemma." Chris looked at the tears in his eyes,
"Your father is in Beacon Hills; he has a big offer for you guys." Chris smiled, then he kneeled down and placed his hand on Stiles's head, combing his hair lovingly,
"Don't worry Michael, if there's one thing I know about Stiles, he is a fighter and he will pull through this, plus, my fiancé' will take good care of him, Sergeant you have joined a large group of misfits, who would fight for one another at all costs." He got up to walk away, but turned back and quietly informed him, "Never be afraid to ask for help, likewise never be afraid to extend a hand if you can. This group of people are very independent individuals and not big at asking for help, a matter of fact, most will hide their problem rather than ask for assistance." He pointed at Stiles, who moved his head just a tad, patting Michael on the shoulder, he walked to the front of the plane. Peter looked at Chris,
"Is everyone buckled up, we are landing in a moment?" Chris walked to the back, he woke Liam, Alec, Scott and Pavel to let them know they were almost home.
Michael watched Stiles eye's, they were darting back and forth behind his closed eyelids. He placed his hand near the bandage that was on his head, pulling the pain away, his breathing started to slow a bit, and his heart slowed as well. Stiles's mind played a bad memory of his own past, reliving it he could see everything quite clearly.
/\/\/\/\/\
They had been in the city for only five minutes, then all hell broke loose, PFC Stilinski pushed Private Cammel through the door, as he drug Private Gomez behind him,
"I'm sure this was the rendezvous point!" but if he were wrong, he and the other two soldiers were going to be in big trouble. The three of them were now against the back wall facing away from the exterior gun fire. Stiles looked at Gomez,
"G are you okay?" Gomez raised his head up, "Yes I was feeling a bit off balance, but it went away, thanks Sti." Then a loud explosion rocked the building as dirt and dust fell from the rafters. Stiles heard rustling outside the door,
"You guys stay here, cover me." Stiles crawled towards the door, and the second he got there, a face popped around the lower door frame, scaring the crap out of Stiles. Pushing the younger man out of his way, Michael leaned back against the wall.
"Sarge, get against the...." Another barrage of bullet fire started coming through the window above them and was ricocheting off the walls. More wooden splinters and concrete fragments were flying through the air. When the enemy fire finally ceased, Michael ordered "Okay fellas, let's get out of here" as he moved to leave, he turned to see Stiles staring at Gomez, he had been hit by a stray bullet in the forehead, and the fresh blood was running down into his eye where it blended with Gomez's final tears. Stiles now had tears running down his cheek, he was stunned and in a state of shock, "Stilinski, snap out of it, Stilinski!" Stiles shook his head, he reached over and place his hands on Gomez's eyelids and closed them, the act itself was easier than he thought, but it hurt to see his friend die in mid-sentence. Michael knew that this eventually would happen, he tried to protect his guys from as much ugliness of this war, things just happen, and now they will learn from it. "Damn it!" He looked at his wrist pad, he marked the spot on his GPS device, so after the fighting the military could retrieve his body. Pete looked petrified. He grabbed Stiles's arm,
"Don't you ever leave me?" Stiles gripped Pete's forearm tightly,
"I won't, I promise........"
explosions...
yelling and even more shrapnel fly around...
/\/\/\/\/\
Stiles body started shaking, Michael bent down and pulled him into a bonding hug ,
" Don't worry Sarge, I've got you." The feeling of his warm body calmed him down more. Stiles woke up.
"Your here, it's over." Michael smiled with tears,
"Yes Sarge, I'm here, we are almost home." Michael kept touching Stiles's hair, it was one of the things he knew for sure would, calm his Sarge down. "I'm gonna get you help for that bump, okay?" Stiles frowned,
"It shouldn't be that way, I should be taking care of you bub." Michael almost teared up, he was feeling a wash of love, and pure joy coming off Stiles as he closed eyes again. The plane touched down and taxied to an empty area that had an Army ambulance and Stiles's jeep waiting.
As the group slowly disembarked, Michael helped Stiles as Isaac helped Jacob go down the steps to the ambulance waiting to take them to Beacon Hills Memorial. The other men are loaded into Stiles's jeep, as Ethan drives it, following the ambulance. Jackson looked at Ethan,
"How is Stiles doing?" Ethan had his basic blank face on.
"I don't know, yesterday he had some memory loss, but seemed fine this morning this whole thing happened so fast, I have all this pain and hatred in me, I can't just put it aside." Jackson saw Ethan's golden eyes slowly appear.
"What do we need to do then?" Ethan looked at the man he fell in love with. He tried to push his anguish aside, but it was over whelming.
"Jackson, I need to fight, I need to train, because if I don't, I may lose it!" Jackson looked at him,
"We need Derek." Ethan lowered his head, "Normally I would agree, but before we left, Derek had some sort of break down. We may have to find another way."
Melissa was waiting for the ambulance at the emergency doors. She had almost all of her team ready to assist with the injuries coming in. Each person had their own nurse and orderly to help. Michael watched as they took Stiles away, he wanted to be with him but was instead stopped by Melissa,
"I'm going to assume that you are Michael?" He nodded trying to make sure he knew which way they took Stiles, but Melissa calmly escorted him into a room of his own. "Once we have cleared you then you can go to him, but please try to be patient for now." He smiled at her then quietly asked,
"Did they inform you that Stiles has a head injury, after as much combat as I have seen, I'm pretty sure he may have a major concussion!" Melissa checked her pad,
"All my notes said was that he had a head injury, I will definitely look into the concussion. We will probably have to do a CT. Once Noah gets here with your father, I'll make sure that they agree that I can give you Stiles's information as one of his family members." She continued to read, "Well Chris said you may have a couple broken ribs, Cassidy could you escort Sergeant Lasko here to get his chest x rayed?" She walked out as one of her nurses walked in. Moments later the nurse left Michael alone again in his room.
As Michael looked out the door, there stood a young woman with strawberry blonde hair smiling at him.
"May I come in?" He looked at her,
"Sure." As she stepped in, she smiled, she walked around him like she was doing an inspection, she lightly moved his hair out of his eyes where it curled,
"You have brought joy to my friend Stiles, the night he and I spoke of you, the sparkle in his eye in the moonlight was amazing, I've never seen him, well, I don't know, I have just never seen him so happy, other than his little crush on me." Michael looked at her,
"Oh, your little Miss Martin." She blushed, she hadn't known that Michael knew of her or at least had never thought of it.
"Why yes I am, I am sorry that I didn't introduce myself before I came barging in." Michael put a polite smile on his face,
"Don't take this in the wrong way please but thank you for crushing Stiles's heart right before he left to train for war." Her eyes widened, she almost was angry but put a fake smile on her face,
"I did what I had to do for..." He interrupted her,
"Yourself, yes I got that, and so did he. He lost faith in his world, and it took me almost a year to get him to care about himself again." She looked at him with lost eyes.
"I didn't know it hurt him that much." Michael was angry at this point, he wanted to yell at this arrogant woman, but he turned and calmly whispered,
"The man had a crush on you since third grade, he even had a ten-year plan to win you over, it took for him to almost disappear out of existence before you to even noticed his love, so what I can only presume, you dated him out of survivor's guilt, and when you stopped feeling bad, you systematically let him go." She had a child's pout plastered on her face. He looked at her as Melissa returned to the room, "You are allowed to be mad at me if and only if I'm wrong." Turning around causing her hair to hit her face, Lydia marched out the room. Melissa smiled,
"Well, I see you met Her Highness." Michael only watched her go,
"What did he see in her anyway?" Melissa patted his shoulder,
"It was just a schoolboys crush..."