Ryan Summers had ended up back at the hospital.

On what was supposed to be her grand return to Beacon Hills High, a day that she had been psyching herself up for, the red head was stuck sitting in an exam room. Melissa Mccall had only just left the room with blood work in her hand and a calming smile on her face, which did nothing to ease Ryan's conscience.

Her head pounded worse than it ever had. It was like a migraine that wouldn't go away—and got worse every day. Ryan could barely open her eyes without a splitting sensation piercing behind them. It truly felt like someone was repeatedly whacking her skull.

While the rest of Ryan's friends would be all arriving at school, prepping for the English class that the majority of them had somehow snagged to be together in, the girl herself was sitting alone in a hospital room praying that Melissa could give her something to ease her pain.

Ryan was used to being alone, where her mother was concerned. Because despite the few seconds of interest she showed in hovering over her only daughter after the coma, Ryan's mother went right back to how she used to be. Absent and nonchalant.

When Ryan woke up in the morning, her mother's bedroom door was wide open with no Evelyn Summers in sight, and as per usual no explanation for the such. Had she gone to work? Had she skipped the country? Ryan would never know, which wasn't out of the ordinary.

The red head wasn't sure how that made her feel. Sometimes she craved a mother that cared about her life and inserted herself in it. But the freedom she had, Ryan knew so many people were envious of. Ryan did think however that she would have loved the soothing company of her mother for another hospital visit. She had texted Evelyn but was yet to receive a response—typically.

"Ryan," The red head opened her eyes and almost groaned at the pain that split through her skull. It wasn't even just at the front, it rotated right around her head. On every inch. The voice had come from Melissa Mccall, who held a small cup in her hand and a cautious expression on her face. She hovered in the doorway.

Ryan sent her a small smile, an encouragement to go on with whatever she wanted to say. If it had been any other member of the staff, then Ryan wouldn't be as concerned with being too nice. But this was Melissa Mccall—Scott's mother and the lady that had never once been anything other than kind to her.

"Here is the strongest stuff I can give you for now," Melissa held the cup full of a few pills out to Ryan, which the girl grabbed more quickly than was probably normal. "When we get your bloods back, we might know more. But at this point it might just be something else we don't know—we have done all the scans possible when you woke up. We'll just have to monitor you as time goes on, I wish I had a better answer for you."

Ryan knew that answer was coming. In truth, she didn't really know what she was expecting in this visit, her waking up was an anomaly and she figured the pain that throbbed in her head would be much the same. "Thanks for trying."

"There is something else."

Melissa looked even more cautious as she said this. Ryan narrowed her eyes slightly, unsure of what could possibly have been left unsaid.

"And I probably shouldn't be asking you—given your current state—but honestly, I'm new to all this and at a complete loss for what to do." And Ryan could tell that Melissa was desperate. Not just from the look of slight terror that glistened off her dark eyes, but the way the words fell out of her mouth incoherently, like she hadn't thought them through. It wasn't a state that Ryan had ever thought she had seen the composed, calm Melissa Mccall in.

Ryan stood up from the uncomfortable chair now, her fingers cracking as she pushed them together. Somewhat of a nervous tick that everyone around her detested. "Just tell me. Any distraction is more than welcome right now."

And after Ryan had swallowed the pills in her hand, Melissa strode down the hospital with Ryan following right at her side. She briefly explained what had happened to Isaac Lahey, well as much as she could with the lack of information she had. Something about a motorcycle crash.

The name Isaac Lahey would not have held any significance to Ryan before the coma. He was just another student at Beacon Hills High that the ginger wouldn't have even done a double take on in the halls, walking by him in ignorance. And if she was being honest, Ryan still had no idea what the boy looked like.

And maybe that was bad on her part. Ryan had never really been concerned with anyone other than her group of friends, which had never given her the best rep in school gossip. Lydia, Allison, Jackson, Danny, Stiles and Scott were about as far as her radar got. And keep in mind that was never at the same time—Scott and Stiles never interacted with her other friends. Which only made her seem more like a bitch.

Maybe before she would have denied that title. But right at the current moment, Ryan had no right to say she wasn't. Because she was selfish, and that was something that needed to change. All it got her last time was in a coma for half a year.

Isaac Lahey was a werewolf in Derek Hale's pack, that was as much as the red head knew thanks to Lydia and Allison's break down of what had happened since she faded out.

"He's healing from injuries that should have killed any human," Melissa stated as she walked up to a closed door. She looked both ways around her before she grabbed the handle. "And we need to get him out of here before people besides us start to see that."

Melissa shut the door behind both her and Ryan when the two were inside. And that was when Ryan got her first ever glimpse at Isaac Lahey, and she definitely wasn't disappointed. How she didn't notice him before was a wonder.

He was tall—he was lying down and Ryan could already tell that. He was cute, very cute.

His blue eyes followed Ryan as she entered the room, clearly as confused as she was to be in this situation. This wasn't why she came into the hospital this morning.

"Come look at the cuts." Melissa had already moved towards Isaac and gently pulled the huge bandage off his skin, Ryan watched as the werewolf didn't even wince at the ripping.

Four giant scratches were etched onto Isaac's rib cage, the red marking stood out against his pale skin. Not only that though—Ryan could see the skin literally contracting back to its usual shape, the cuts forming together again.

There was no way they could explain that one to anybody outside the supernatural world.

"It's healing," Melissa spoke to both teenagers in the room with her. "Visibly."

"As in we can see your skin moving back into place. Which isn't weird—not at all."

Ryan had seen a lot of things in the supernatural world, but watching a werewolf's mutated genes work was not one of them. She didn't know whether to look away or keep watching—she was almost enamoured with the way it worked.

"Cover it up," Isaac spoke now and Melissa did what he asked, although it was with the shake of her head.

"That's not going to matter or help at all. I mean—you're scheduled for surgery. Which is obviously going to be very confusing for a lot of people."

Ryan was the one to speak up now, her fingers once again coming together to crack nervously. Nobody could see this, not while Isaac's skin was visibly healing scratches at fifty times the rate of a human. "He can't go to surgery. Not unless he wants to be experimented on by a million doctors—he'd be a phenomenon."

"You have to do something," Isaac pleaded to Melissa now. Ryan watched his icy blue eyes glisten slightly, showing the panic that was filling his mind.

And Ryan knew Melissa could see this too. His urgency was noted but that didn't mean the solution was right in front of them. They couldn't get Isaac out of hospital now that people thought he was injured, and they couldn't just say he had gotten better. His injuries were on record.

"Me, do something?" Melissa spoke in slight confusion. Her rubber gloved hands gestured in large motions. "I'm relatively new to all of this."

By this she meant the supernatural, and despite Ryan not being in the same boat—she knew for around a year now—she too felt like she was new to the world around her. So much had changed and developed, leaving the red head to stumble into more craziness than she had ever bargained for. All her time unconscious had gotten her so far was more disadvantages, that much was apparent as she felt behind on everything.

"We can't sneak you out, there is a sheriff's deputy stationed around the corner. I had to weave Ryan around the long way to get past him."

"Maybe we could sneak him out," Ryan commented half-heartedly. "He's clearly not very good at his job if you can get me in here."

Both Melissa and Isaac only looked at Ryan for that one. She inwardly cringed a bit—the crisis clearly didn't need her comment, although she thought it had a small bit of validity. It wouldn't be Ryan Summers however if she didn't make a blunt comment every now and again.

"Have you tried Derek?" Isaac questioned now, pulling at the very few strings he had left to get out of this situation.

Melissa pulled off the gloves that adorned her fingers with the nod of her head. "Like, five times."

There was a small silence that filled the room, and Melissa let out a sigh at the look of exasperation that filled Isaac's face. She hated that look on anyone, and she knew that Isaac had done nothing to cause himself to be in this situation. He didn't want this either. "Do you have any other emergency werewolf contacts?"

At the sight of the hesitance on his face, Ryan knew exactly who Isaac was thinking of. The only person that might know what to do—or at least be able to come up with a better plan than the three of them. They also happened to be a person that Melissa wouldn't want to drag into this mess.

But what other choice did they really have?

"Yeah," Isaac said as he let out a small breath. His eyes came up to meet Melissa's, sorrowfully. "Call Scott."

---

From: Stiles

i'll save you a seat in english this morning. did you make up your mind on your "i woke up from a six month coma" outfit yet?

From: Stiles

are you sure you don't want me to pick you up? you haven't been in the jeep for six months, i know you're having withdrawals!!!!

From: Stiles

ok. offended you haven't responded yet. i really thought the jeep one would get you to say something snarky back but whatever

From: Stiles

omg just saw cassidy robertson wearing that skirt you hate. maybe it's good you aren't here yet or you would vomit on your first day back lmao

From: Stiles

i look crazy sending you this many texts without any response, put me out of my misery, summers.

From: Stiles

ryan!!!!!!!! class starts in 5, hurry your ass up

From: Stiles

update: english is in session but there is no 5'6 red head to be seen

From: Stiles

where are you?!?!??!?!? :( :( :( :(

From: Stiles

i understand the need for an entrance granted that it is you we're talking about, but really?! come on, summers you're pushing it a bit now

From: Stiles

ryan marlene summers!!!!!!!! answer me please!!!!!

From: Stiles

seriously i will not hesitate to track you on find my friends, answer me before i resort to stalker tendencies

From: Stiles

ok legit worrying now, i looked and you're at the hospital?!? i'm about to go to the bathroom and ring you, and then melissa if you don't text back

From: Stiles

scott just left class, what is going on?! seriously, ryan, answer me

Quite frankly, it's a wonder how Ryan didn't feel the vibrating that would have been going crazy from her phone. With that many texts from Stiles, it had clearly been going on for a while now.

In her defence, she had been pre-occupied with both the pounding in her head and the Isaac healing dilemma to notice the texts flooding her phone. There were even a few from Lydia, Allison and Scott. All with variations of wanting to know where the hell she was.

She hadn't exactly told anybody about her impromptu visit to the hospital, knowing the burden that they would all feel. Ryan knew for sure that Stiles would have ditched school to join her here and that was the last thing she wanted. They had all worried about her for six months during her comatose state—they didn't need to keep worrying and suffering on her behalf. Not anymore.

That was why Ryan's fingers quickly typed out a response to Stiles—who she knew would be nearly running out of his seat in worry at this point. Especially now that Scott had left to arrive at Ryan's very destination.

To Stiles:

calm down, stilinski. hold back the swat team. i'm at the hospital trying to get pain meds for my head, don't worry about it. i'll be back for third period with you, woohoo. i love stats!!!!!

To Stiles:

p.s yes i figured out my outfit. it is very "i just got out of a coma-chic."

To: Stiles

p. s. s it is very creepy that you tracked my location. you'll be on your way to becoming a full fledged stalker if you're not careful. taking pics of me in my sleep is the next step.

"I bet the whole school is anxiously anticipating your return."

Ryan looked up from the phone that was tightly gripped in her hand at the sound of Isaac's voice. She remained in his hospital room, waiting for Melissa to come back after calling Scott so she could stealthily escort Ryan out of there without the Sheriff's guard seeing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryan asked now, with a slight clip to her tone. She already disliked the way in which this conversation looked to be going—the way Isaac spoke was with slight sarcasm. And Ryan was always ready to go on the defensive.

Isaac shrugged a little. "You have always been the talk of Beacon Hills High—even more so when you were in your coma."

"Do you have a problem, Isaac?" Ryan spoke with conviction, and confidence before she fiddled with the phone in her hand. She was trying not to snap properly at Isaac, although she still wasn't sure if she needed to. Allison and Lydia both said he was on their side, and the statement wasn't false she presumed. It just seemed antagonistic.

"No problem, just trying to figure you out," Isaac met Ryan's eyes as he retorted—and the red head knew that he wasn't lying. He made that clear in the way he looked at her, with both kindness but also a little hesitance. "Scott and Stiles claimed you to be this amazing, kind-hearted person. Stiles especially being your biggest advocate. But all me and the majority of the school saw was another bitchy, mean girl stomping on everybody in her path."

That stung—although it wasn't anything but the truth. Ryan couldn't remember the last time anybody had confronted her like that. To lay all their thoughts on the table, instead of hiding them from her.

It was oddly refreshing.

Ryan couldn't knock Isaac for telling her how he, and she was sure a fair few others, saw it. The red head was more than aware of the reputation that fell on her shoulders, and just how misconstrued it was.

Everything in her mind told her to push back, to stack the bricks of her wall even further above her. Ryan would rather people see her as a vindictive, spiteful bitch than for her to put herself out there for the world to stomp on, with no armour to protect her. She had seen people around her get played for fools when they were nice and wore their hearts on their sleeves—the first being the affair that her father had when Ryan was barely two years old.

She watched her mother's kind hearted soul get crushed by her father for years—the person that Evelyn had put her entire trust in.

Watching her mother spiral from that, watching her naive mind get continually fucked over was more than enough for Ryan to turn sour. It took a long time for her to open up, to let people in but the girl believed it to be for the better. She may have forgiven her father for the mistake he had made, but that didn't mean his actions hadn't changed Ryan forever.

"Believe what you want," Ryan spoke honestly to Isaac now. She wasn't going to push him away, but she also wasn't going to force him to change his opinion on her instantly. "It honestly doesn't matter to me. People see what they want to see."

Ryan didn't know how Isaac felt about that answer, his face giving nothing away.

The phone that was gripped in Ryan's hand sent a vibration that moved up her arm. She could only guess who was texting her back.

"Stiles?" Isaac's voice piped up from where he sat on his hospital bed, clearly referencing the text that had just come through Ryan's phone. The girl forgot that his heightened hearing would have picked up on the sound of the vibration.

Ryan—who was sitting in the one uncomfortable seat the room provided—glanced at the screen quickly, and she knew her expression gave away that Isaac was correct in his guess. She looked up to see Isaac baring a small smirk.

The red head's mind went back to the message in front of her, from no one other than Stiles Stilinski.

From: Stiles

you want me to come to the hospital?

Of course that was the part of the texts Ryan sent that Stiles honed in on. He wouldn't be her best friend if he didn't offer to help, nor would he be Stiles if he didn't desperately try to be a part of things.

"He's asking if he should come to the hopsital," Ryan spoke to Isaac now. Her eyes only briefly leaving the screen in front of her.

Isaac let out a short laugh at that, and it was that noise that caused the red head to change her attention to him. She was met with an almost knowing glance from Isaac Lahey—the boy she met less than twenty minutes ago.

"Of course he is."

Ryan furrowed her brows at the comment, confused. "What do you mean?"

Isaac paused for a second, his eyes narrowed a little to focus in on the red head near him. Ryan wasn't aware of the look he was giving, or what he was looking at her so in depth for. "I think it's pretty obvious that Stiles would do anything for you."

"I'd do anything for him, too," Ryan didn't miss a beat in her reply to Isaac. It was easy to speak the truth quickly. And that was something she truly meant. Ryan would do anything for Stiles—anything he wanted, anything he needed, anything he asked. It had always been like that, ever since they traded sandwiches in kindergarten.

They were best friends. Best friends did anything for each other.

Ryan watched Isaac smile at that fact, in slight disbelief.

That was when Melissa Mccall opened the door to the room that the pair occupied. It was this action that sent Ryan back onto what was going on—no longer trivialising herself with Isaac Lahey and his confusing statements.

"Scott's on his way. C'mon, Ryan, we have to get you out of here."

And Ryan did exactly that, following Melissa out the door.

---

Ryan stood up from the seat she sat on at the sight of Scott Mccall coming through the hopsital doors.

The red head had taken it upon herself to wait for Scott to arrive. She wasn't admitted into the hospital so she was really free to leave whenever she wanted, but Ryan wasn't going untill all of this was sorted.

Melissa must have told Scott that Ryan was at the hospital and presumably the reason why, because the dark haired boy didn't look confused at seeing her when he walked in. He simply sent her a small smile as he made his way over.

Not only was Ryan happy to see Scott as he might be the only one able to help Isaac, but also because she was able to physically see that he was okay. Although him and Stiles had only been witness to the deer accident that Lydia and Allison had found themselves in the night prior, that didn't mean that Ryan didn't worry about their wellbeing.

She worried despite all four of them insisting they were okay. Stiles continued to tell her repeatedly that he was really most thankful that Ryan herself had declined to hang out with Lydia and Allison yesterday. Her head had been pounding too hard.

"You okay?" Scott asked immediately when he reached where Ryan had been sitting.

Scott had always been a caring person, but he along with everyone else checked on Ryan five times more now since she had woken up. The red head completely understood why, but knowing this didn't make it any less annoying. Not that she would ever blame her friends for caring about her.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Just nervous for Isaac. Do you have a plan?"

"Still working on it," Scott explained honestly. "But whatever I come up with, you don't have to be a part of it."

Ryan would never admit that her heart hurt a little with that statement.

  Even though she didn't admit it, the instant look of regret on Scott's face told the red head that her facade wasn't as strong as she thought in that moment. Scott instantly grabbed Ryan's smaller hand in his, looking directly at the shorter girl. "I mean that in the nicest way possible, Ryan. You've been through a lot—don't add this to your plate."

True, Ryan had been through a lot. But she had also missed a lot. Like so much that her head spun when everybody talked about it. Six months didn't seem like a long time to people, yet when you're absent from life for that long it seemed that a whole lot could happen.

No matter how much explaining and catching up her friends did for Ryan, it would never change how much time had passed—and how many things the red head had missed out on. It put her on the outside, which is a place that Ryan had never ever found herself on. And it definitely didn't feel great.

Maybe joining in on this supernatural mission wasn't entirely safe and it was probably better that Scott told her to sit out, but that didn't help the feeling of Ryan's stomach caving in. Like it was retracting into itself like Isaac's skin had earlier, as if Ryan was going to begin to cave into herself entirely.

Ryan swallowed the blockade that felt stuck in her throat. Her mouth pulled into a smile. "Okay. I'll sit this one out, just make sure Isaac's okay. And that you stay safe. I have a bunch of tests coming up on Saturday so the school can see that I'm all caught up from the time I missed anyway—skipping school probably isn't the best look."

Scott smiled back at the girl, but it didn't meet his eyes. They stayed as pits of concern, searching the entirety of her face for any hint that this wasn't okay with her.

Ryan had let him in accidentally just before and she wouldn't make that mistake again. She really just prayed her heart stayed even so that Scott didn't get any ideas on her lying.

She had always been a hard person to read, but as soon as Scott got his heightened hearing it seemed he could always catch her out in a lie. That had to change. It wasn't that she had a problem with the Mccall boy—in fact he was one of the closest people to her. It was the simple fact that Ryan didn't want to get burned, and to not risk that it was easiest to have your walls up at all times. To everybody.

"Keep me updated?" Ryan asked hopefully, at least wanting to be that included in whatever was about to go down.

Scott nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh. Take notes for me in econ?"

"Duh," Ryan responded in the same tone her friend had used. A small giggle falling out of her lips afterwards.

Scott walked off to find his mother, leaving Ryan to stand alone in the tiny waiting area at the entrance of the hospital, with nothing to do but go to school—which scared her more than it should have. Oddly enough, the thought of everyone staring at and whispering about her was the last thing she wanted.

As she grabbed her bag that rested on the seat next to her, Ryan suddenly realised the tension in her head was completely gone. No headache, no pounding, no tension. Just a clear, normally functioning head.

Ryan smiled at that. She had been so caught up in the happenings around her that she didn't realise the pills Melissa gave her had worked. Thank god the brunette had given her more not long ago, telling her the correct dosage and when to take them.

At least one good thing came out of this hospital visit.

---

ryan: i have to keep my walls up for everyone!!!!

stiles: *exists*

ryan: ok maybe not everyone

sksksksks i love my kids, when ryan said they would do anything for each other and isaac was like..... how do they not see the love smh

also tag urself i'm stiles texting ryan a billion times bye he's so cute

hope you enjoyed!!! i love ryan so much and her storyline is only getting crazier from here bye