All Sharp Like Fox Teeth: Volume Two – Chapter 6 – quicksylver28

Reading Time:
13 Minutes

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Noah dropped Stiles off at the hotel the next morning before heading out to do his check in with the satellite deputy station in Beacon Falls, giving the boy enough time to explore the whole presidential suite while Tony did his morning ablutions. The teen was suitably impressed, snooping into each room and closet, gaping at the window and balcony views and bouncing on each bed, chair and ottoman.

They had breakfast at the famous buffet, Stiles munching through a loaded omlette made to order on the spot with a couple of the reindeer sausages while Tony did a simple oats with fruit before his hospital trip. They took more sausages to go along with a couple of spinach and cheese croissants for a snack and took the Range Rover over to Beacon Hills Medical. Tony also carried his thermos full of tea and an extra few bags in case they needed to make more.

A stop at a local bakery scored a couple of breakfast buns and a huge cup of the good coffee for Melissa as thanks as well as a box full of assorted donuts for the rest of the nurses on duty. Tony knew who really kept hospitals going… especially after a tough overnight shift. He was right and the sweet treats were welcomed with a cheer and tired smiles as the nursing staff fell upon the pink box with gusto. Melissa just grinned and accepted her goodies with a kiss to Stiles cheek.

The Internist they were set to meet, Doctor Mitchum, had been a big wig out in Chicago for decades and only moved out to the California wilds with his wife after the death of their two adult children in a tragic car accident that left them utterly bereft and fed up of big city life. He was a grandfatherly looking old man who smiled easily but turned into a total ball buster when Tony tried to dismiss or blow off his past medical history.

Having read through Tony’s expansive file and making a phone call to Doctor Brad, the older man had given Tony a steady look that reminded him way too much of Gibbs in his Gunnery Sargeant Mode and it made the younger man shiver in alarm. Oh… he was in for it now. Another silver haired man who would give him no quarter whatsoever. Wonderful.

“We won’t get everything done today.” Mitchum set the tablet he’d been reading aside. “It may take some tests a few days to see results and some may take a week or two. But we will get them ALL done.”

His clear blue eyes were sharp as he looked at Tony over his gold frame glasses. “Your body has been through a lot. More than any average person I’ve ever treated. And though you may have had time to heal in between but injuries like this, the buildup of consequences in your body over time have often determine the  limit on how much you can bounce back in the future if you, God forbid, get injured again.”

His mouth flattened as he pushed the glass up the bridge of his nose. It wasn’t a frown but it was something close.

“From your time as an athlete, maybe even before, to your stint as a police officer to your career in federal government; your body has had to adapt to untenable circumstances to survive and now it’s stuck in this emergency mode of cannibalizing parts of itself to keep the whole running. We are going to have to seriously address that and try to reverse it. It’s not going to be easy to train the body back from an established hormone cycle but I am willing to stick it out if you are. First, we are going to have to do a bunch of tests to see how far it’s gone. Are you ready to commit fully to that, Mister DiNozzo?”

“It’s Tony, please… and yes I am, Doc…” Tony reached over to rest a steady hand on Stiles’ heavily shaking knee, looking over to give the pale teen a reassuring nod. “… I am ready to do everything in my power to live as long as possible. Because, it turns out that I have a lot to live for.”

He smiled to the boy who had grabbed his hand with both of his and gave it a comforting squeeze, a small tremulous smile quirking across his ashen face. The teen then took few deep breaths before his hands loosened a bit and his knee settled down.

“Good. ” The doctor barked, nodding approval. “Let’s get started then. It’s going to be a long day.”

By the time Tony wandered out of the doctor’s clutches, he’d felt scraped raw, poked, prodded and stuck into machines he didn’t think that a small town hospital like BHM possessed and operated. Boy, had he been sorely mistaken. The hospital had state of the art equipment, well-trained staff and even had a helipad on the roof for emergency medevacs. He was encouraged to pay the membership prescription for that by the head RN on duty for the day shift, Gwen Darling – and yes that was her happily married name-, in case of an emergency with his lungs needing evac to the specialists at Paolo Alto. He’d seen the benefits immediately and proceeded to register for himself, Stiles and Noah.

While he was in the office and Stiles was out raiding the local vending machines for snacks; Tony had taken the opportunity to ask about the family’s medical debt. Though Gwen had been reluctant to discuss the details, he’d managed to get an estimate out of her on promise that he would discuss solutions with Noah before paying towards it. Noah was a proud man and Tony stepping in like that might be perceived as stepping on toes.

Tony had agreed, glad for the woman’s advice which had helped to temper his enthusiasm. It was definitely something that he needed to discuss with Noah first and not just make decisions on his own in regards to their shared son. Noah was already welcoming enough into both their lives. It wouldn’t do to upset either of them by pushing his way into a situation they were both still so sensitive about. The amount was high, and with how Stiles had spoken about the long battle against the debt of Claudia’s hospital stay… it was bound to be a thorny subject.

He left the office only to find melissa and stiles sitting in an empty waiting room. It seemed strange that the woman hadn’t yet left to go home after so long. It was only when he saw stiles’ stricken expression did his gut start churning and he hurried down the corridor just in time to hear the woman’s word, thick with unshed tears.

“… maybe if you tried to reach out to him a little harder… Scott would stop all of this foolishness… and thing could go back to the way they were before.”

“Excuse me?” Tony’s sharp voice made them both jump and turn to face him. Stiles’ haunted eyes made a deep fire of fury surge in Tony’s chest and he clenched his jaw painfully so as not to snap at the woman  sitting opposite. She was important to both Stiles and Noah and seemed to be in genuine distress.

Although he understood what she might be going through and how it could wreck a person; but it didn’t give her permission to pour all that negative emotion out on his vulnerable teenaged son. Tony quickly stepped around the pale yellow leather love seat and shifted the teen aside so he could sit facing the tired looking Hispanic woman. Melissa looked taken aback, glancing at Stiles briefly then back to Tony.

He spoke before she could think to protest. “I get that Stiles and Scott have been best friends forever since the sand box and have been through so much together; but that doesn’t mean that it’s Stiles’ responsibility to keep Scott on the straight and narrow.”

“I didn’t say that he should.” the woman frowned in indignation.

“No, but you implied it when you asked him to try harder.” Tony said gently. “If your son is having problems dealing with everything that has happened then I think that it’s more on us as the grown-ups to see him get the help he needs. Both Noah and Stiles have decided to get therapy and so have I. Maybe you can even look into that for Scott and yourself.”

He injected a bit of warmth into his voice, feeling empathy for her even as he tried to keep the conversation calm and purposeful.

“It must have been hard to find out about the deaths here at the hospital after everything else, much less experience the trauma of it first hand. It must be so difficult to realize the place where you work and are supposed to feel safe has been lost forever. Even though they’ve moved the bodies… even though they’ve washed the blood away… ”

“It will never be the same again.” Melissa finished hoarsely, a trembling hand around her throat. She sat in stilted silence for a few moments before shaking her head suddenly.  Her gaze was hard when she looked back at him once more. “I don’t think that this is any of your business, Mr. DiNozzo.”

“Stiles is my business.” he retorted.

“Noah is Stiles’ father.” she pressed, “You can’t call yourself his father when you’re  nothing but a sperm donor.” her voice laced with irritation, “You… you can’t just turn up now after all is said and done and think you have a say in any of this.”

“I am here now… and I do have a say.” Tony replied calmly. “Stiles says I have a say and Noah agrees.”

“Scott is so different now . I can’t reach him anymore.” Melissa’s voice shook as she abruptly changed the subject; her eyes reddening as she twisted the hem of her cardigan in between her hands.

“He practically haunts out at the spot where Allison died. If he’s not there he’s with Deaton. At the vets… at his house. He hardly comes home. He keeps trying to call Chris in France and when he doesn’t through… he calls Isaac. Now that Isaac has stopped taking his calls… ”

Her shoulders dropped even further as her voice falls to a whisper. “… He doesn’t eat. He doesn’t sleep. He keeps walking around the house at night or going for late night runs that don’t end until the sun comes up. He broke…” her words cut off abruptly as she turned her face away.

Stiles’ fingers tightened as he leaned forward in concern. This was still his best friend’s mom and surrogate mother figure for most of his childhood. There was so much history and love between them that Tony wouldn’t trade for anything. He placed a hand on the teen’s back and gave him a nod of approval. Stiles was up and across the space to Melissa’s side and was hugging her as she broke down into frustrated tears against his shoulders.

“He broke a hole in the bathroom door when he punched it… he was so angry at me. I was so scared…”

She began crying in earnest and Stiles eyes went scared and red with tears as she looked at Tony for help. With a soft sigh, Tony got up and walked over to squat in front of the softly sobbing woman, handing her a clean handkerchief. He took out his phone and handed it to Stiles, asking him to walk down the corridor aways and call Noah.

The man had long returned to the office and should have the time to pass by the hospital to provide the kind of comfort Melissa desperately needed. She and Noah had been friends for years and that kind of history could not compare to someone she’d barely met a week ago and had dinner with once. It gave Stiles a break away from the stress of his weeping pseudo-mom and added comfort in talking to his father. It also gave Melissa a chance to pull herself together in the middle of a public hospital waiting area.

He sent Stiles to the nurses station for hot water and a couple mugs and he brewed some tea while they waited. Gwen checked in on them, concerned but she was apparently accustomed to Stiles and Scott related shenanigans because she easily accepted a few words from her fellow RN and left once more.

Stiles, who’d been trying to set a record in how many parts of the body one could shake at the same time, jumped up off his hot seat at the sight of the sheriff rounding the corner and was dashing to him at a pace just below a straight sprint. Noah caught his gangly son deftly, proof of extensive practice at the move and held him close as he directed them both closer.

Tony’s sharp hearing caught stiles panicked hissing, the words “Omega”, “Pack” and “Full Moon” echoing down the empty hallway as Noah spoke in low and soothing tones. Whatever he said, Stiles was much more relaxed by the time he sank against Tony back on the love seat, slumping to lean his head against his dad’s shoulder as Tony’s arm came up to pull him close.

Noah had pulled Melissa into a hug and with a look back at the love seat and a nod, guided the crying nurse into a nearby empty examination room. Good thing he did because her cries were soon heard through the closed door, muffled yet unmistakably filled with pain.

“She told me that Scott wants to go stay with his dad.” Stiles voice was almost musing as he spoke against Tony’s shoulder. “He hates his dad. He’s hated him since even before the divorce. Now he wants to go stay with FBI Agent Asshole.” he huffed a disgusted scoff at the notion. “And technically she can’t stop him. He repeated third grade because his grades fell to shit from all the fighting and beatings so he’s technically eighteen and an adult, even though he still has to graduate.”

The teen shook his head, looking exhausted as he rubbed his palms over his eyes. “But if he’s getting violent on top of isolating himself then we’re gonna have to deal with that now as well.”

“How?” Tony asked softly, “you think your dad or this Deaton guy can convince him to see someone about his unresolved grief over Allison?”

Stiles started, as if he was just remembering Tony was sitting right there, his whiskey eyes going wide with fear. Tony kept all the questions pushing against his lips and kept his face calm; he knew well enough about how not to spook a skittish witness. Instead, he continued while the teen quietly decided whether to continue freaking out into a full blown panic attack or calm down.

“From what I’ve heard of the kid, he’s pretty stubborn. Would Noah be able to talk him down or should we look into options that include CPS intervention. Hey, no… not to take Scott from his mom but to help her out and provide support before the situation gets any worse.”

He ran a hand through Stiles’ hair, keeping his voice soothing and conversational.

“As much as we often want to help the people we love… and as much as we feel responsible for catching them when they fall… sometimes we don’t have the tools or resources to make them better. Calling for help doesn’t mean that we’re abandoning them or anything… it just means that there’s a life boat ready to pick all of us up out of the water.”

“But what if we feel responsible….” the teen’s voice was almost inaudible and Tony had to strain to hear it. “… what if it is our fault.”

“It’s not your fault, Mimmo.”

Stiles pulled away abruptly, meeting Tony’s eyes with an expression of pure and abject grief.

“But what if it is…?”

Tony felt like a cold bony hand was reaching into his chest and squeezing his heart. Pain made his breath hitch as his lungs remembered to breathe. He held the teen’s gaze for long seconds before reaching up to gently cup the boy’s pale cheek. His heart broke to see the teen flinch away before forcing himself to stay still enough for Tony to touch him. Stiles practically melted into the touch, those haunted eyes falling closed as he nuzzled into the warm hand against his clammy skin.

“Then we’ll fix it…together. You , me and your dad. We’ll fix  it.” Tony’s voice was a solemn vow, something that seemed ripped from the bottom of his chest. “A ogni costo, Tesoro… whatever it takes.”

“Promise?” a fine trembling had taken over Stiles’ body, his voice hoarse and full of fragile hope.

Tony knew the answer. The only answer that mattered. The only answer that he would accept or say out loud and mean with everything he had. The only answer that would keep his son together in between this moment and the next.

“Promise.”

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