A dedication goes out to KaylaLoves93 for being the first one to realize tht Liam and Charlotte's "hey, hi" thing is like their always.

Chapter 19 ✧A Little Optimisim✧

I stood in the hospital hallway in silence. Everyone migrated around me, completely oblivious to my existence which was something I had grown accustomed to. But even if someone had by some miracle stopped to talk to me, I wouldn’t have been able to talk back and not just because of my paralyzing anxiety. I was frozen in place by the display a wailing Mrs.McCall was putting on. If I hadn’t known of the plan I would’ve been convinced that Scott McCall was actually dead. Of course in a way he was dead but he was an alpha which means he can come back. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen if the plan works.

Let’s just say there are about one-hundred seventeen million holes in this plan.

Eventually, things seemed to calm down. A man— who I recognized to be the doctor who had tended to Liam’s injured ankle—helped Melissa get back up on her feet. Still sobbing slightly, she made her way over to me with the dark-skinned man still following her, almost like he was waiting for her to have yet another emotional break. Seeing as she had just been delivered the news of her only sons’ death, I’d say those were some pretty necessary precautions.

I gulped down some air as they got closer and quickly brushed away some tears. With Derek’s jacket gripped slightly in my weak little hands, I mentally prepared myself for social interaction with a weeping woman and a semi-stranger.

“I-I’m guessing you’ve heard?” The mother-figure in my life questioned. I respond with a silent nod as I looked down at the ground and sniffled. God do I hate this plan.

“Wait a second, you look familiar,” Melissa’s doctor friend realized as he looked at me. I cowered a bit under his gaze, not overly fond of being noticed. Suddenly, his dark eyes brightened up some. “You were here with Liam the other day!”

“Y-yes sir, I-I was,” I murmured as I huddled closer to Mama McCall who had just put her arm over my shoulder.

“I’m his step-father,” The man explained, which, I’ll admit, caught me off guard. I knew Liam had a step-dad but I had yet to actually meet him. Then I noticed the name tag on the Doctor’s lab coat read ‘Dunbar’ which should’ve been a dead giveaway.

Look at me, too much of a pathetic mess to be able to read a name tag.

“Well,” Liam’s step-father said which caused me to look up at him, “I’m very sorry for your loss. Melissa, the body is downstairs if you want to see it.”

Melissa let out another sob at the word ‘body’ but nodded her head nonetheless. “Thank you.”

With a small nod and a gentle smile, Doctor Dunbar was off to do his doctorly duties to the hospital. Melissa and I just could find the strength to speak so, instead, we walked to the nearest elevator in silence.

“That was pretty convincing,” I said in a low voice once the elevator doors dinged to signal we were at our destination.

“Well, knowing what I do it wasn’t hard to think of my son as being dead. I’ve had plenty of scares like that,” She answered as she wiped away the last of her tears. Knowing how she felt, I nodded in response as we walked into the morgue.

The first thing I noticed was Scott laying on a metal slab with only the top half of his body being visible as the rest was covered by a thin fabric. I chocked back a sob as his mother and I approached him. With his chest unmoving and his skin almost as pale as Stiles’, the true alpha looked very, very, dead.

“I still hate this plan,” Melissa deadpanned once the two of us had gotten to Scott. We stood on one side of him with Stiles as Kira, her mom, and Liam stood on the other. I could feel Liam’s eyes on me but refused to look up at him as the poor woman next to me pushed away her sobs and kept talking, “I mean this is pretty significantly terrifying. He looks dead.”

“Give me your hand,” Noshiko, Kira’s mom, instructed with a kind smile. Melissa held out a shaky hand and let the other woman guide her hand to her son’s heart. Then, Noshiko looked at me and held out her free hand, “And you?”

I quickly shook my head as I wrapped my arms around my body as if to hold myself together. My hands balled into fists as I tried to hold my emotions together whole I stared at Scott’s blank face. I don’t care if Noshiko was trying to make me feel better, I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want to have to hope and pray for a sign to show me there was a faintest sign of life inside of him. For me that meant he had to be in pain and was close to death and I hate that. I was just too scared of knowing. I’m always just too scared.

As Noshiko turned her attention to Melissa, Stiles—who was standing next to me—looked down at me.

“Char,” Stiles spoke softly and he reached out to me.

“Don’t touch me,” I said immediately as I closed my eyes tightly to hold back tears. Stiles’ telling me it was okay for the umpteenth time wasn’t going to bring Scott. I didn’t want to be comforted or pitied like I always was because everyone just knew I was the weakest link. Anyways, I kind of hated Stiles for letting Scott go through with this stupid idea.

“How much time do we have?” Melissa asked which turned my attention away from a pained looking Stiles and to Kira and Noshiko.

“Forty-five minutes,” Noshiko responded.

“And after that?” I asked, my voice cracking ever so slightly which only made me feel like more of a coward.

“I bring him back the same way,” Kira answered this time as she gave me a encouraging – but obviously forced—smile.

“But what happens if he stays like this for longer than forty-five minutes?” I looked around at all of their crest-fallen faces and felt my stomach drop. This couldn’t be good.

“No one’s told her?” Noshiko inquired the others who had now made it their duty to avoid making eye-contact with me. Not even Liam could manage looking up from the floor for a mere second and I couldn’t help but feel betrayed. They’d been keeping things from me.

“What?” Melissa pressed, obviously just as confused as I was, “What happens after forty-five minutes?”

There was a silence before Noshiko stepped up to the plate with an answer, “He dies.”

Scott dies? We literally have less than an hour until Scott McCall’s death? Nobody thought it would be a good idea to tell me that a person that I have let myself love was practically giving himself the death sentence? I mean I knew I was pretty insignificant to the pack but did I really not matter so much that they had just opted not to tell me such a colossal detail?

“Look, we have to hurry,” Stiles pushed as Melissa and I took in this new information. I wanted to shout at him and tell him that all of this stupid finding the benefactor stuff was pointless so we should just bring Scott back now but I couldn’t find it in me to say anything. Too many emotions flowed through me that it was becoming hard to breathe. This, Stiles noticed and he quickly grabbed my shoulders as my knee’s began collapsing under me, “She’s having an anxiety attack, we have to get her out of here.”

“Don’t touch me,” I told him once again as my breathing became labored. Stiles let go of me just like I had demanded but instead of falling to the ground someone else’s arms scoped me up.

Liam.

I wanted to fight him too but I just didn’t have the strength to do so. He said something to the others that I couldn’t concentrate enough to listen to and then he quickly turned away from them. My pounding head fell onto his chest as he carried me bridal-style through an empty hallway while he looked around urgently. Seeing as his hands were full, he kicked open a door and carried me into a vacant room. He then placed me down on a perfectly made bed and forced me to stay sitting up.

“Charlotte, it’s okay. It’s just you and me,” Liam said softly as he pushed my brown hair out of my face. I felt myself quaking under his touch as sobs racked through my body over and over again.

“You lied to be,” I choked out, “You all lied to me.”

Liam cupped my face and forced me to concentrate on looking into his blue eyes that had dancing flecks of green and grey in them. I concentrated on those details as I willed myself to calm down. Eventually, my breathing evened out and I could hold myself up which meant I could finally push Liam away.

Liam let me push him off but he stayed standing in front of me as his eyes bore into mine. “I know you’re mad about that and I also know that that’s not all you’re upset about.”

I rubbed tears off of my face as I nodded my head slowly. “I-I can’t lose Scott.”

“Who said you were going to?” Liam questioned with a soft smile.

“Well do you really think that the benefactor is going to show up in time? Or even show up at all?” I asked him as I swung my legs in hopes that the action would relieve me of some of my anxiety.

“I can’t afford to think otherwise.”

I looked away from Liam while trying to hide how surprisingly philosophical his statement had been. He must be hanging out to much with Stiles and Lydia. Or maybe it was even from one of Coach Finstock’s famous speeches that he gets from classic movies like Independence Day. Either way, I felt myself feel better by Liam’s words. One of my many problems was always being a pessimist and it was amazing what a little optimism could do.

“Char, I know how many things you’ve lost and I’m not just going to allow Scott to be one of them,” Liam swore as he stepped closer to me once again. “Plus, I kinda don’t want to lose my alpha.”

I shook my head and choked at a laugh which then resulted in Liam chuckling softly. I took a deep breath and realized how nice it was to be able to do so again.

“Thank you, Liam,” I managed to say after a while. He looked over at me with a shy smile which I gladly returned. With a sigh I held my arms out to him and Liam’s smile widened before he accepted my hug. I don’t even remember the last time I had put myself out there and actually asked for a hug but something just felt right about it. And something felt really right when Liam wrapped me up in his arms.

“Hey, what are friends, or whatever we are for?” Liam asked jokingly as he held me tight. I sighed out a laugh before he pulled away, “Now, what do you say we go help the others?”

I nodded before scooting off the bed. Liam went and opened the hospital room’s door before holding a hand out to me. I shot him a real genuine smile before I took it. Then, the two of us sped down the hallways hand-in-hand, ready to find the remainder of the McCall pack and do everything in our power to finally get some answers.

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I APOLOGIZE FOR THE ABNORMALLY SHORT CHAPTER. THE NEXT ONE WILL HOPEFULLY BE LONGER.

Guys, I really don't know what to say. I believe it was last chapter I was thanking you for getting this to 50k and now it's at 60k and I'm like dying. I can't even began to thank you for this. It's like a dream come true to say the least.

Also, You guys have voted Scarlotte to be Scott and Charlotte's ship name while Charles is Charlotte and Stiles! I love them both and I hope you do too!

Question- Who is your bigger brotp, Scarlotte or Charles?