Sooo... this is my secret santa gift to Aliqueen16! i feel so bad for posting this so late, I'm really sorry about that :(

But hey, I think it's written pretty decently, so here it is!

When Stiles woke up, he didn't have that brief moment of confusion that too many writers believed happened when one got kidnapped. He woke up, already remembering what had happened, and yeah, maybe he'd tried to get up despite being so obviously tied to a chair.

Although he remembered what had happened, he wasn't entirely sure what was happening. Stiles was well aware that calling out would be a stupid move. If he'd been taken by hunters, or worse, the alpha pack, it was almost a given that he'd be hurt.

But already he was feeling restless, and he needed something, so like an idiot, he yelled.

"Hello?"

The last thing Stiles was expecting was an immediate response, so when a nearly blinding light switched on, he nearly jumped out of his chair. He probably would have, too, if he wasn't tied to it, but honestly, he was just happy he and his chair hadn't fallen over.

"Mr. Stilinski," an average, not super threatening voice drawled out. Southern, Stiles thought. "If things go according to plan, you'll only be here for a few days, at most. As long as you behave, you won't be hurt. Understood?"

Not the alpha pack, and probably not hunters, but the sound of it. But this, of course, posed the question: who were they?

"What do you want with me?" he blurted out. Again, maybe not the absolute smartest move, but these guys were way less menacing than, say Peter.

"That's none of your business," the Southern guy replied. Stiles couldn't see his face due to him being behind the big, bright light that was obviously an attempt to burn out his retinas. "If you need to like, puke or anything, just yell."

And with that, the man was gone. Or at least, Stiles was pretty sure he was, it was hard to tell with the light still in his face.

"Stiles doesn't just 'go missing,'" Scott argued, prompting a sigh from Derek. "What if the alpha pack has him?" the teenager demanded, feeling dread bubble in his stomach. "What if he's hurt! Oh no — what if crazy hunters kidnapped him again!" he all but screamed.

Derek, realizing he needed to calm his beta before he did something reckless, spoke up. "Scott, the alpha pack has almost no reason to take Stiles, and you know they don't do things without reason. I highly doubt they have him. As for crazy hunters, there's no evidence that any are even here. Stiles probably just did something stupid and got lost."

Scott didn't look reassured. "I'm going to look for him." he walked towards the door, then back towards Derek. "Are you gonna help me or not?"

Stiles had never been so bored. Had he been in a room filled with tiles, he would have counted them all to pass the time, but he wasn't. If he had to guess, he'd say he'd been awake for the better part of three hours.

Honestly, he was proud of himself for not yet having a panic attack from this whole situation. It helped to know that his father was almost definitely aware of his disappearance and was looking for him. Scott was probably looking high and low, too, and with his enhanced werewolf senses, it wouldn't be long before he was saved.

"Hey, kid," a different person this time, a woman with a voice like silk (though Stiles knew not to be fooled by pretty things), said. Stiles lifted his head, searching for the source. She spoke again, this time from somewhere behind him. "Listen, we're really not bad people. In the event that your dad hunts us down and jails us, could you at least make sure he knows that we didn't rough you up or anything?"

Stiles had full intent to make sure these people ended up in jail. "Yeah, sure." is what he says though, because he's not stupid. Stiles likes to think of himself as smart, actually, and it helps to know that sometimes that pays off.

"Great thanks."

Silence engulfed the room once more, and Stiles had thought that the woman left, until he heard her speak again, scaring the living devil out of him.

"So…"

"Jeez, a little warning can be nice!" he exclaimed, and if he'd been able to, he would have put his hand to his heart for effect.

"Oh, sorry," the problem with her tone was that she sounded truly apologetic. Except she was supposed to be some sort of crazy evil kidnapper, so it just… didn't sound right. Of course, Stiles would prefer this over his other experiences being kidnapped any day.

"Really though, we're not bad people. We've never done this kind of thing before." she continued, as if Stiles believed her, or even cared. But hey, it was better than a big huge bowl of silence, so he'd take it.

"Then why do it?" he asked, shifting a little in his chair. "Why kidnap somebody if you're 'not bad people'?"

The lady sighed. "We're trying to help somebody out of jail."

Yeah, Stiles thought, 'help'.

"Have you heard from Stiles at all?" Scott asked the sheriff, hoping the answer would be yes. Everything else had been an absolute dead end, and if he couldn't figure out something, he was sure he would scream. He might anyway, actually.

Sheriff Stilinski looked at Scott, raising his eyebrows. "Not since this morning… why, is he okay?" he asked, his parental side taking over. If his son was hurt, he didn't know what he'd do.

Scott's eyes widened, unbelieving. "Wha— he never showed up at school! And he's not answering his phone, either." While the teen felt like spluttering in complete disbelief, he managed to keep his cool and refrained from doing so.

"He what?" the sheriff demanded, looking at Scott like they'd both gone mad. His son was missing. This wasn't happening, not again! He could be hurt, or worse! "I'm calling him." he dialed Stiles, holding his breath as the phone rang.

"Hey, you've reached Stiles! Unfortunately, I'm busy and can't come to the phone, but leave a message and I'll call you back pretty soon."

"Did he answer?" Scott asked, pretending he hadn't heard the pre-recorded message.

"No, it went to voicemail." frustrated, the sheriff harshly put his phone on his desk. "Are you sure he's not at home?"

"Definitely not, I checked."

"Great, great."

Both went silent at the sound of buzzing. Specifically, the buzz of a text message.

Scott looked at the sheriff's cell phone, lying face-up on the desk. "It's from Stiles!" he exclaimed, picking it up. "It says… oh, that's not good."

"What's not?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, concern spiking in his throat. "What does it say?"

"It's… I think it's some kind of ransom."

Stiles quite honestly didn't want his phone destroyed. It would be a huge inconvenience, really. So when the southern guy picked up Stiles's phone after it rang (again), Stiles was sure it was so he could smash it or something. Instead, he asked for the password.

Obviously, this was preferable to his phone being wrecked, so wearily, he gave it. And then, southern guy made a stupid, wonderful mistake.

He left Stiles's phone on a nearby table, unlocked and unattended. These people were truly hopeless at being kidnappers.

With a quick scan to ensure nobody was within hearing distance, Stiles spoke as loudly as he dared.

"Hey Siri, message Scott."

"What would you like to say to: Scott?"

Silently, Stiles thanked whatever God may be listening that this was actually working. "If you haven't noticed by now, I'm missing. Specifically, kidnapped. I don't really know where I am, but I think I'm in a warehouse. These guys are amateurs, not hunters and I don't think they'll hurt me."

Fearing that somebody may hear him, he chose to end the message there, and it sent without problems. Now Stiles could only hope that somebody actually came for him. But things were looking up, and he had good, solid hope.

Hopefully, Scott wouldn't be stupid and text back. His best friend made dumb decisions sometimes, but he wouldn't be so dull as to set off Stiles's phone. And if he was… well, Stiles would burn that bridge when he got to it.

For the most part, Stiles was left alone. Nobody really bothered him or anything. The issue with this was that he really, desperately wanted to move.

Not moving, being forced to sit completely and utterly still for literally hours on end was horrible. If he didn't move soon, he was sure he would explode. All he really wanted at this point was to move.

Going home would be nice too, but he obviously wasn't going to get that for awhile.

"Hey!" Stiles yelled out, a plan beginning to form. "Hey!" It wasn't the most brilliant of plans, but it could possibly work.

To his right, he heard a door opening. "Yeah?" a guy, this time not southern, asked.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Stiles replied, trying to look as innocent as he could.

"Uhh…" just as he'd been hoping, the guy didn't seem to know what to do. This was the moment, this was what would make or break the plan.

"Come on, there's got to be a bathroom here somewhere. Can you please let me use it? I won't give you any trouble. Besides, I'm way outnumbered, it's not like I'd be able to beat you guys down anyway."

"Alright, fine," the guy said wearily, beginning to untie Stiles. "But you'd better not try anything funny."

Stiles nodded as he stood up, rubbing his wrist. "Yeah, thanks, I really appreciate it—" he took this opportunity to punch the guy in the face as hard as he possibly could, resulting in the guy letting out a shout and falling.

He bolted for the table, snatched up his phone, then ran as fast as his legs would carry him, shoes squeaking against the floor. No doubt they were already after him, but he'd been given a head start.

With the open space of the warehouse, there were fewer places than ideal to hide. Nonetheless, he spotted a rather large box, got in, and closed it. As long as he kept his breathing quiet, he would be fine. Probably.

They would assume he'd made a break for it and go outside to search for him. Then, he would make his actual escape.

"I knew we shouldn't have done this. We're not cut out to be criminals!" he heard, along with two sets of fast approaching footsteps.

"We should have just let Michael fulfill his stupid sentence instead of kidnapping the sheriff's kid. Now we're all going to jail!"

"We're not going to find him if you keep complaining!"

Thankfully, the voices faded, assumably passing him by.

Stiles counted to 300 before getting out of the box. Seeing nobody around, he quickly and quietly made his way towards the exit.

It was at this exact moment that he heard a beautiful, beautiful sound.

"This is the police, we have you surrounded."

It had taken a lot of convincing to get to come along to get Stiles. Obviously, Scott would have come along anyway, no matter what any authority figures told him. Heck, he'd run there if he had to (he was a werewolf).

But Stiles was Scott's best friend, and he would feel terrible if he wasn't literally there for him when they found Stiles.

When said boy first came out of the warehouse looking relatively unharmed, Scott couldn't even begin to explain the massive relief he felt. So much, in fact, that he bolted out of the car and ran straight to his best friend, engulfing him in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Scott muttered, mentally reminding himself to show more appreciation for Stiles in the future.

"I'd be even more okay if you weren't trying to squeeze the life out of me," Stiles laughed, and though he was clearly joking, Scott loosened his hold a little.

"Sorry, I just…" Scott broke the hug, taking a small step back to give Stiles a little space. "I'm really, really glad you're not hurt." then, with wide eyes, he realized he didn't actually know that. "Wait, they didn't hurt you, did they?"

Stiles laughed again, shaking his head. "Nah, they were too polite to be kidnappers. I'm fine."

It was then that his dad was at his side. "Stiles! Tell me you're okay. Did they hurt you?"

"I'm okay, dad." he was a little surprised at the hug (simply because of how suddenly his dad wrapped his arms around him), but happily hugged back. Just because the experience hadn't outright terrified him, Stiles realized, didn't mean that the people closed to him hadn't been scared out of their minds.

Honestly, Stiles was lucky to have people like that looking out for him.

"Actually, if you really wanna make sure I'm okay, I am pretty hungry."

I don't really know what that was but what a ride it was!