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Jackson looks at Stiles for a second before returning his eyes to the road once again. His hands on the steering wheel. He’s seen Stiles smiling, looking through the window at the streets of Beacon Hills which he’s seen a million times.
“What are you thinking about?” Jackson breaks the silence.
“Umm… you. I was thinking about you,” Stiles says, looking at Jackson as he drives.
“Me? What about me?”
“Okay, I’ll tell you… but promise not to… laugh or something.”
“Why would I laugh or something?”
“Because I know you… but... fine, I was thinking about when we started dating and you said I shouldn’t expect any kind of romantic shit because you weren’t that kind of guy… and now I think you’re the most romantic man I know.”
Jackson snorts. “Well, keeping in mind that you haven’t dated anybody else... I guess it’s easy for me to win.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
Jackson doesn’t say anything because of course, he knows what Stiles means.
“What you did tonight… You know…” Stiles smiles and shakes his head. It’s hard to put into words how he feels. “There’s nothing more… amazing than bringing a new life to this world and the fact that you’re doing it again after everything you went through… it really means everything to me. And I know you’re doing it for me.”
“For us.”
“Yeah, but I’m a part of us. I’m part of the equation. And what I was thinking before is just how fucking lucky I am to have you… and that you love me enough to make that sacrifice.”
“It’s not—”
“Yes, it is. I know everything you’re giving up. Because we could find a surrogate or we could adopt but you want this kid to have both our genes, to be part of us, and that’s the most romantic thing that I can think of. So, I’m sorry but there’s no way you can deny being a romantic because you totally are.”
“Okay.” Jackson licks his lips. “I guess you make me want to be… It’s all your fault. You’ve corrupted me with all your Valentine’s shit.”
Stiles can’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, that’s why you bought me that iPhone for our first Valentine’s day… because I made you…”
“No, I got it because your phone was fucking old and I knew you’d never buy that one which is the one you liked. So, I was being practical. I wasn’t going to get you some chocolate… that would have been useless.”
“Okay, Mr practical, you can say whatever you want because I know the truth…” Stiles rests his left hand on Jackson’s thigh, sliding it slowly. “And you know it too.”
Jackson just smiles and doesn’t say anything. He’s just happy to see Stiles so blissful. The last few weeks have been very stressful at work for both of them and he’s missed this, just being alone without anything work related in the conversation.
Stiles’s right hand unbuttons one button of his shirt so it can slip under it, touching anywhere he can reach on Jackson’s chest.
“What are you doing?” Jackson asks, keeping his eyes on the road.
“I can’t wait to get home and get this shirt off. I wanna do all kinds of things to you.”
Jackson snorts and licks his lips. “I think you’ve drunk too much cava tonight.”
“No. I don’t think—”
******
“Three things you love, three things you hate… go.”
“Ready? I was born ready.”
“Of course, I’ll marry you.”
"Wait, did you say you're pregnant?"
“The kanima was never you. You could never be a freak.”
“It would be ours: part of you and part of me.”
“I love you so much. You make me so happy.”
The first thing you notice when you open your eyes is the airbag against your face. You’re confused. At first, you don’t even know where you are but then you realize you’re in your car. It feels like you can’t move and it’s hard to breathe. You need to calm down so that you can breathe. You touch your forehead and there’S some blood there, apparently you’ve cut your face and your right leg hurts. You’re pretty sure there’s a broken bone.
But it feels like slow motion, you can’t really think straight. You’re still numb until you look to your right and you see him. Stiles is trapped between the airbag and the door. There’s no window because it’s broken in a million pieces, many of them spread all over Stiles. Through the space of the window, you can see the front of a red car, wedged against the right door next to Stiles. While the headlights of your car are still on, the headlights of the red car shattered with the crash.
You don’t bother looking at the other car again, you focus your attention on Stiles hoping that he’s still breathing. You find his left arm and there’s a pulse. Thank god he’s just unconscious. You find some relief in that but you’ve seen too many movies and you know there could be some internal hemorrhage or many other complications. The truth is that you’re still freaking out.
So, you find your phone inside your jacket pocket and you dial as fast as you can.
“911. What is your emergency?” A woman asks.
“I’ve been… There’s been a car accident. My husband, he’s unconscious. I’m not sure if he’s dying. He’s bleeding. We need a fucking ambulance right now!”
“Okay. Sir, I need you to answer a few questions. What is your name?”
“Jackson Whittemore.” Even if he thinks that they’re losing time with this shit, he knows how this works and the sooner he answers the sooner he’ll get the fucking ambulance.
“What’s the phone number you’re calling from?”
“661 949 162. It’s my cell phone.”
“Where is the accident?”
“It’s… it’s Kingsley Avenue, County Road 21 in Beacon Hills.”
“What are the nearest cross streets?”
“I think… I’m pretty sure it’s Eastern Avenue.”
“How many cars are involved?”
“Two cars. Mine and some other guy’s.”
“Is anyone hurt?”
Is this woman for real? “I already told you, my husband is fucking bleeding! He needs medical attention!”
“And in the other car?”
“I guess so. I can’t be sure. I’m still in my car.”
“Okay, Jackson. We’ll send an ambulance right away.”
“Thank you,” Jackson hangs up right up away because he knows who he needs to call next.
******
“Hey, Jackson?” Obviously, Derek must be a little surprised to get a call from him at this hour.
“Derek, there’s been an accident. Somebody just crashed into my car. I just called 911 and there’s an ambulance on the way but Stiles is bleeding and I’m afraid he’s gonna die before the ambulance—”
“Jackson, Jackson!” Derek interrupts him. “Slow down! Just tell me where you are, okay?” Derek gets up from the sofa.
“Grab your jacket, we have to go.” Jackson knows that is directed to Kane.
“What’s happened?” Jackson can hear Kane asking.
“I’ll explain on the way.”
Derek grabs his jacket and the car keys and leaves the house with Kane as quickly as he can.
“Okay, so where are you?” Derek repeats.
“Kingsley Avenue, near Eastern Avenue. We were almost home.”
“Okay, yeah. We’ll be there in no time. Please try to calm down,” Derek says trying his best to stay calm himself.
“Derek, I’m going to call the sheriff and you need to call Melissa.”
“Melissa?” Derek sounds surprised which was to be expected.
“Yeah, I can’t let them examine me at the hospital. She needs to do something. Anything. But they can’t examine me—”
“Jackson, what are you talking about?”
“I’m pregnant. I’m fucking pregnant, okay? So, I’m not gonna let them examine me.”
“I see. Yeah.” Derek can see how that could certainly be a problem.
“I’m just a few weeks along but they could find out anyway.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Melissa, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Thank you. I need to hang up now.” Jackson hangs up without waiting for a reply. All he has in mind is that he needs to call his father-in-law.
******
After talking to Stiles’s father, it’s just a couple of minutes before the ambulance, Derek and Kane show up almost at the same time.
Now at the hospital in the waiting room he remembers those agonizing minutes he was waiting in the car. He was convinced that nothing could ever surpass what he went through with the Esiban but tonight he just realized how wrong he was because he’s never been more afraid than waiting for the ambulance to arrive. He remembers holding Stiles’s hand, trying pointlessly to take some pain away, telling him to hold on, that the ambulance was on the way; telling him that he was there with him, that he loves him, that he needs him, that he was going to be okay. He knows he was telling him things that he needed to believe himself because there was no way that he was letting Stiles die inside his fucking car.
In the end, firemen were needed too because the other car was obstructing Stiles’s doorway and there wasn’t any way to get him out safely unless they removed that car. It probably only took around ten minutes but it certainly felt like forever.
The other driver was also unconscious and there were four empty cans of beer in the passenger’s footwell so it wasn’t difficult to figure out who had caused the accident and why.
Now the guy is conscious again and under observation but he seems to be perfectly fine. Of course, the police are waiting to arrest him once he’s released.
Stiles, on the contrary, is having surgery and they’re still waiting to know the gravity of his injuries.
Jackson was checked by Melissa and after determining that he had only broken the tibia of his right leg, a nurse had put a cast on him. He knew his head was perfectly okay and discharged himself against medical advice. He’d rather be outside waiting for the news with the pack, his father-in-law and his parents.
“Scott told me you’re pregnant,” the sheriff tells him, sitting next to him. Of course, it makes sense that Derek told the pack and his parents given the circumstances and actually, he prefers it that way.
“Yeah, I’ve only known for a few days. Stiles just found out tonight, that’s why we hadn’t told anybody yet.”
The sheriff is not sure if he should say congratulations or not. It feels too weird to say that word right now, so he decides against it.
“He must have been really happy,” he says instead.
“Yeah, he was. He couldn’t stop smiling. He couldn’t wait to tell Daniel.” Jackson licks his lips. “I swear if I see that guy out here… I don’t think I’ll be able to—”
“Son, you can’t hurt that man.” The sheriff interrupts him. “You’d probably kill him and then what? Do you want to end up in jail? You have to think about Daniel, the baby… Stiles...”
Jackson shakes his head. “I know... I know. Shit! I just… I swear to you, I’m gonna make sure that that fucker stays behind bars for as long as possible. He’s not going to get away with this.”
The sheriff is absolutely sure that he will because when Jackson puts his mind to something there’s almost nothing that can stop him.
They stay in silence after that until a doctor comes out looking for them.
“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it: Stiles has fallen into a coma. He had broken the radius of his right arm. He also had two broken ribs but the worst was the head trauma that has ultimately resulted in a coma. And unfortunately, there’s nothing else we can do right now. We can only wait.”
We can only wait.
Jackson doesn’t remember anything else that the doctor may have said. Everything after that is just a blur. And he leaves.
At first, it feels like he’s suffocating. He’s never been so afraid in his life.
He walks, going nowhere in particular. He just needs to be alone.
It feels like he’s going to throw up. The idea of Stiles never waking up feels like too much. Much more than he can deal with. And the thing is that he knows.
He knows he can’t do it. He can’t live without him. He can’t raise their children without him.
He knows.