canon au } { post-s4, of head trips and healing

[impetere]

Cora: [about six hours later she emerges from her post-brain trip coma. She nuzzles her nose against the nape of his neck for a moment, taking in Stiles's scent and sighing softly]

Stiles: [and he feels her nose moves and mid snore is woken from his sleep with a snort]

Cora: [smirks a bit at that before pressing a kiss there] Hi.

Stiles: Humana hey.

Cora: Sleep okay?

Stiles: Yeah. Much better than the back of a police transport van.

Cora: [nods a bit before pulling back to look at him] A lot happened. Are you okay?

Stiles: Me? I'm fine. You're the one who I should be asking if you're okay.

Cora: [yes, well, she was trying to avoid that] I'll be fine.

Stiles: [runs a hand along her face] You know, right now if you don't want to be fine... you don't have to be.

Cora: [leans into his hand a bit, and shakes her head] It was just ... facing a lot of stuff I knew was there, but either hadn't seen in a while or never really dealt with.

Stiles: And you saw it all in his perspective... from the crazy side.

Cora: [she shakes her head] Some things we see the same way, like the fire. I mean, I'm not going to lie that there aren't some things that he took from me and twisted around - [pointedly doesn't look at him for that] - but ... most of it was the fire.

Stiles: I don't think I can imagine that being easy on any of you.

Cora: [she shakes her head, picking at his shirt a bit] But I've been through worse.

Stiles: Even worse than your boyfriend turning into an evil fox demon?

Cora: [she actually looks up at him at that, and there's a moment where it's there, on her face that Peter tried to use him against her, but it's gone almost as soon as it was there] My entire family was burned alive. Even if you were possessed by a demon fox, you at least came back.

Stiles: And now you got Peter back too. Right?

Cora: [she nods] I hope so. I wasn't really conscious when he came out of it.

Stiles: We can go see if he's up?

Cora: [she nods a bit, but she wants to stay with him for a little while longer] Later.

Stiles: Okay, later it is. [not like he needs to be at school or anything, right?]

Cora: [nope. He's just going to be a very comfy pillow] How angry is your dad?

Stiles: You mean beyond the death threats and explicit details of the prison I'm going to be living in when I finally show my face back at the house?

Cora: There's more than that?

Stiles: I think the words "grounded from Cora time" were uttered.

Cora: [eyes widened at that] Can he do that?

Stiles: Melissa tried to ground Scott from me. It didn't really last. At all.

Cora: Is he going to nail your window shut?

Stiles: He does have the security system still.

Cora: [makes a face] I guess we'll just hang out at the loft. But Derek's sense of smell is back so we'd be just hanging out.

Stiles: Which, by the way... wow? Are you going to evolve into super werewolf in a few years? Should I be prepared for that?

Cora: I ... don't know how it works. I thought my mom could do it because she was an alpha.

Stiles: Well, your brother was an alpha... and he sacrificed it for you. Maybe just because his eyes changed, maybe he didn't lose that level of experience.

Cora: Maybe. I don't know. It'd be a better question for Peter or Satomi.

Stiles: Maybe Peter will start giving actual answers now.

Cora: Maybe. I hope so. [so after spending the time with Stiles that's probably only going to be the only cute cuddle time they get for a while, and eventually she makes her way over to Buffy's room and knocks lightly on the door. Buffy already went downstairs to talk to Derek, so that means Peter is, temporarily, alone.]

Peter: [when Buffy left, Peter had basically bundled himself up in the blankets. He's still trying to come to terms with what he did, what he felt was right, what he now knows would not have been his intentions if he had been in his right mind, and dealing with the lunacy that still clung to the edges of his thoughts. Which is why he didn't speak when he heard the knock. If they wanted to come in and see him, they would enter]

Cora: [she hesitates at first, her hand resting flat against the door. She doesn't want to just barge in if he doesn't want her there - she's already done enough of that - so she pauses before speaking] Uncle Peter? Can I come in?

Peter: [he hears her and sighs, debating on it a moment, and then] If you want to.

Cora: [she hesitates again, impulse telling her to just come back later, but she knows that she shouldn't. She takes a deep breath, before slowly opening the door, peeking her head around the other side to look at him] Hi.

Peter: [he shifts in the bed to look at her, a deep sigh] Hi. You sleep well?

Cora: [she nods, coming and shutting the door behind her] Sorry I didn't stay longer. It wasn't you, or anything, I just ... [couldn't stay conscious]

Peter: You were in my head, Cora. I know what it takes out of a person doing that ritual. I know.

Cora: [she nods a bit as she looks down at her fingers. Reminding her what she did just makes it feel even more awkward because she invaded his privacy in a major way. Even under the guise of trying to save him, it's still an intrusion he probably didn't want] I'm sorry. That it had to be that way, we just didn't know what else to do, and I couldn't put you in that place. [and she couldn't let them kill him either]

Peter: You would have been better served to kill me, to be honest. I wouldn't have blamed you.

Cora: I couldn't let them do that either.

Peter: [nods] I think though... part of the insanity was craving it. To gain the power to take care of myself, or die trying.

Cora: [she glances up at him with a small smile] Then it's probably a good thing he didn't get what he wanted. [because the insanity shouldn't win as far as he's concerned.]

Peter: I think that is yet to be determined, but I appreciate the optimism on my behalf.

Cora: [she nods for a moment, taking another tentative step closer, still playing with her fingers] How do you feel?

Peter: Very confused.

Cora: [a beat] Can I help?

Peter: [thinks] I don't know, but you're welcome to stay.

Cora: [she nods, before moving over to sit up on the bed next to him. She doesn't get so close she's crowding him, not unless he wants her to be, but she's close enough that he could lean into her if he wanted to. She sits with her back against the headboard, legs stretched out in front of her.]

Peter: [he doesn't look like he's moving, but it isn't long before he's just leaning against her. It was the unconscious need for affection to help with his own healing] I'm trying to reconcile what I've done in my lunacy.

Cora: [she leans into him in return, staying close as he talks] How's that going?

Peter: Not good.

Cora: [nods a bit] What are you having trouble with?

Peter: [deep breath] Understanding motivations and how I feel about things. I'm not sorry for killing the people who killed our family. But I would never had hurt Laura like that. Or Derek. [he had never hurt Cora though]

Cora: I'm pretty sure they had it coming and none of us really care about that. [a beat] Except for maybe Buffy, but at this point, I think she's over it.

Peter: There were other ways to save you... but I made Derek think he had to take the one that would take away his alpha power. Only because I didn't want him having more power than me. [snorts] that backfired too, it seems.

Cora: [she laughs softly] I don't think either of us are really upset about that either, given the end results.

Peter: I also think I ruined any chance I have at a relationship with Malia at this point.

Cora: [is quiet for a moment] She may come around. [she really has no idea either way]

Peter: I never lied to her. Or you, really. Mostly.

Cora: I think you were more you with her than you were with anyone else.

Peter: There were times I felt like me. When Derek was a teenager... with Malia... with you. I think I was trying to be better for you all because we were becoming a family again. But then Buffy and I... something snapped and I didn't care anymore.

Cora: [she nods a bit] I know.

Peter: I don't know if it won't happen again.

Cora: You snapping or you and Buffy fighting? [because ... she's not putting money on the latter not happening]

Peter: Snapping.

Cora: It might. It always might. But you'd just have to trust us to recognize it and pull you back again. [there's a beat] Maybe you should see a shrink.

Peter: if you're thinking of Deaton’s borderline psychotic sister, I'll pass.

Cora: [she snorts] No. But Dawn knows someone who's in the know.

Peter: [sighs] We'll see. [he knows he's broken, but admitting it to people outside his family is not something he wants to do]

Cora: [nods a bit] He already knows a lot. I used to talk to him after the fire. [he didn't push her to make it a "thing" which helped, but he worked her through her nightmares without making her feel like she was a patient] He's ... really easy to talk to.

Peter: [looks up at her, the Hale stubborness in his eyes] We'll see.

Cora: [yeah, she figured. she's just putting it out there] Okay.

Peter: [and he just closes his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. He's still exhausted] Right now, I just want to quiet the voices in my head.

Cora: [shifts a bit so that his head is resting against her shoulder, tipping her head so that it's resting on top of his] Just rest some more.

Peter: [nods, letting himself drift off]

Derek: [comes in a bit later, a book under his arm. He sees them and doesn't say anything, but just moves to Peter's other side, leaning against his back a bit and goes to read the book quietly]

Cora: [has drifted off herself at that point, just letting herself relax and soak up the feeling of family, just being there with them]

Derek: [he reads for a while, but he also eventually starts to nod off, and soon there are three Hales in a semi-puppy pile in a bed]

Buffy: [is going to take a picture for her sister to view later, but is just going to leave them there. They need it]

Peter: [and the comfort helps a lot, and he has a deep, peaceful sleep and manages to curl around both of them a bit more while in it]

Cora: [good, that's what they're going for. Cora's going to sleep probably until Parrish calls for Derek to come back to the loft. And she even might sleep through that too.]