new york wolves } { of returned sisters and lost control

[impetere]

Stiles: [arrangements made, he looks around...] Where's Cora?

Nik: [blinks and glances around] She couldn't have gone far, she was running on empty.

Derek: [sniffs the air, then shakes his head] I'll stay on watch with Nik. Why don't you go check on her, Stiles?

Stiles: You sure? I don't want to make her uncomfortable.

Derek: I think that's the last thing she'll feel from you at the moment.

Nik: Go. We got this.

Stiles: [nods, and then goes to head up, following Cora's trail to his room and opens the door, knocking as he goes in] Cora?

Cora: [is tipped halfway across his bed, eyes closed. Nik's jacket is still wrapped around her shoulders and her shoes are still on - she basically hit the mattress and passed out]

Stiles: [sighs softly, closing the door behind him. He went to his closet and grabbed one of his shirts and a pair of sweatpants. He went over to her, taking the time to carefully get the dirty, stinking clothes off her and putting the fresh clothes on her. He took off her shoes and socks, and then tucked her into his bed.] You're safe [he whispered before going to go stand in the window, scratching at his face and waiting for any sign of Laura to return]

Laura: [Cora will curl up into his scent, staying asleep for now. A few seconds later, he'll get a text that was sent out to all of them] Five by five. Checking into a hotel for the night.

Stiles: [nods, texting her back that the house was secure. And then he was going to drag his desk chair over to the bed, sitting in it and putting his feet up on the bed, watching over Cora until he just.... falls asleep too]

Cora: [a few hours later she finds her way back to consciousness again, and for a moment she doesn't know where she is. It's not home and it's not the vault and her nose doesn't kick in right away. All she knows is that there's another wolf and she doesn't know where Malia is so defensiveness kicks in first, her eyes flashing in the darkness as she backs herself against the wall with a snarl]

Stiles: [and he's awake at that, not moving] Cora... stop. You're safe here.

Cora: [her eyes turn on him, still defensive, but after a moment, the glow fades as she recognizes him] Stiles?

Stiles: One and only. You're safe here, I promise.

Cora: [she sags a bit in response, slumping down against the wall and running a hand over her face] Sorry.

Stiles: Hey, no, no sorry. You've been through a lot. [he went over to crouch down in front of her] You want me to go get Derek? He and Nik are downstairs keeping watch. And Peter's got Malia in the next room and Laura's out being a distraction.

Cora: [she pauses for a moment, before shaking her head. As much as she wants to see her brother, she doesn't know if she can do it right now] No. I should probably just ... try and go back to sleep.

Stiles: Come on then, back to bed. [he holds out a hand to her]

Cora: [eyes him hesitantly for a moment before she nods and takes his hand, letting him pull her to her feet]

Stiles: [and he just carefully leads her back to the bed, tucking her in gently] Can I get you anything? Food, water...?

Cora: [she shakes her head because she's too tired to think about that but she doesn't let go of his hand right away. She isn't sure how to ask at first, but she doesn't want to be alone] Can you stay?

Stiles: If you want me too. I mean, technically, you're in my bed.

Cora: [she nods] Please.

Stiles: [nods, and he'll crawl into the bed with her, pulling her into his arms]

Cora: [leans into him, tucking her head under his chin and taking a deep breath. It's easier to catch his scent, know she's safe when he's close, so hopefully they won't have a repeat of that rude awakening]

Stiles: Go back to sleep, Cora. Anything tries to get in here, they'll have to get through me first. [tightens his grip around her]

Cora: [she sighs softly and nods, before drifting off to sleep again easily]

Stiles: [and he's going to drift off with her, making the house very silent]

Cora: [she'll sleep for a very long time, and she probably won't rouse again until late the next day]

Derek: [is going to be worried about Laura and pacing a lot. He doesn't like her being that far away, and since his little sisters don't need him at the moment, he's going to worry about the big one out there on her own]

Nik: [sighs] Why don't you call her before you wear a rut in the Sheriff's floors?

Derek: She's probably sleeping at this point. It's been a long night.

Nik: Then relax.

Derek: Kinda hard to when they're still out there.

Nik: And they didn't get what they wanted. They'll have to regroup before they make another move.

Derek: Which means we have an unknown amount of time before they come at us harder.

Nik: Or to hit them first.

Derek: Which means we need to know where they are.

Nik: I'm sure your sister is working on that.

Derek: I know. I just feel useless right now, Nik. I want to do something to end this.

Nik: I know. But part of ending it is waiting for the right time.

Derek: [sighs, stilling for a second and just texting his sister to make sure she's okay]

Laura: [texts back almost immediately] I'm fine. Resident Evil's on cable.

Derek: Espo trying to climb in your window yet?

Laura: Not yet, but he probably will eventually.

Derek: I can also come over. Cora seems to have chosen Stiles over me to cuddle with.

Laura: No, stay with the girls. I'm okay.

Derek: I feel useless right now.

Laura: You're not. You're protecting them. Sometimes protecting involves a lot of sitting still.

Derek: I don't like sitting.

Laura: I know. But don't ruin the Sheriff's floors.

Derek: You and Nik make the same bad jokes.

Laura: Where do you think he learned them from?

Derek: You sure you don't want to come back here?

Laura: I'll be okay, Derek. I'll see you in the morning.

Derek: Alright. But call if you need me. [and he's going to look at Nik] I'm going to try and catch a few hours. You mind?

Nik: [shakes his head] I got it. Go ahead.

Derek: [and he's going to go up to the Sheriff's room and just stretch out, staring at his phone a bit before he just drifts off into a light sleep]

Malia: [and a few hours later, after wriggling out from under her dad's arm, she's leaning over Derek in a way she hasn't done since she was little] Derek?

Derek: [wakes up a bit] Hey... you okay? Why aren't you with Peter?

Malia: He's asleep. Can I use your phone?

Derek: Yeah, sure. [he holds it out to her, making room on the bed for her]

Malia: [takes it and curls into his side, pausing for a moment as she stares at the screen before it comes back to her and she starts to dial in Jeremy's number and places the phone to her ear]

Jeremy: [too early, Malia. He's going to groan from his room in Mystic Falls, hand slapping on the bedside table to reach for a phone and pull it to his ear] Sleeping.

Malia: Sorry. I just ... sorry.

Jeremy: [no, that wakes him up] Malia? Malia, is that you?

Malia: Hi.

Jeremy: Oh thank god, you're safe. We've been so worried.

Malia: Yeah. I'm okay. [she just wanted to hear his voice but she really isn't sure what to say. She doesn't want to talk about it]

Jeremy: Where are you?

Malia: Beacon Hills. We just have to finish up some stuff here, but I think after that we're going back to New York.

Jeremy: Well, I'm home in Virginia right now, but I think we're all coming back at New Years. So when you get home, I'll come find you, okay?

Malia: Okay. [if she doesn't find him first]

Jeremy: But I'm really glad you're safe. Is Cora with you?

Malia: Yeah. They got both of us.

Jeremy: Good, I'll tell the rest of the gang. You just stay safe, okay?

Malia: I will. [there's a pause] You should go back to sleep.

Jeremy: I will. You too, since it's later out there.

Malia: [nods] Bye.

Derek: [waits until she's hung up, rubbing her back a bit] You feeling a bit better?

Malia: [nods, handing his phone back to him] Thanks.

Derek: [puts it on the bedside table] So did you...

Peter: [and that is the sound of Peter rushing through the house, seeing Malia safe in Derek's bed, and then letting out the breath his was holding.]

Derek: I guess not...

Malia: [blinks up at him, and her brow furrows in confusion] He was sleeping.

Peter: And waking up to you gone again.... [he leaned against the door] No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting you gone.

Malia: [looks down at her hands again for a moment, before glancing over at Derek] Can I take a shower?

Derek: Yeah, go ahead. There are fresh towels in there, and you can borrow one of my shirts while we do the wash.

Malia: [small smile] Thanks. [and with that she gets up to head into the shower where she will be for ... a long time. You never know how much you appreciate a hot shower until you go three months without one]

Peter: [Just looks at Derek, then runs fingers through his hair in frustration]

Derek: Go back to sleep, Peter.

Peter: No, I should let Nik get some. [nods, and he's going to go let the other wolf take a nap while he goes to make some food to eat]

Nik: [which he will go do]

Malia: [eventually she reemerges, wrapped in a towel and frowns at Derek] Is he mad?

Derek: [shakes his head] No, just scared.

Malia: [nods, and moves on to avoid talking about feelings] Do you have shorts or something too?

Derek: Yeah, take whatever you want from my bag.

Malia: Thanks. [and with that she will grab a t-shirt and shorts and disappear back into the bathroom for a second to change, and then she's back out again, making her way back to bed and curling up next to Derek]

Derek: [He curls up with her, his hand rubbing her back gently] You okay?

Malia: Better than yesterday.

Derek: [nods] Yeah, I'm sure. It'll take some time to get back to feeling better.

Malia: I just want to go home.

Derek: We will. We just need to make sure that this ends so they don't follow us back.

Malia: And how long is that going to take?

Derek: I don't know. Maybe a few days. Laura's out trying to figure that out while we stay here.

Malia: [nods] Hopefully it'll be soon.

Derek: Do you know of anything that we should let Laura know? She's not here, but if there's anything you remember that could help her end this...

Malia: [she doesn't want to think about it, she just wants to keep moving forward but she wants to help her pack too. It takes her a moment but] I don't think their leader is blind.

Derek: What do you mean?

Malia: It's just ... there were some times where it seemed like he could actually see us.

Derek: [is grabbing his phone to text Laura because that is actually important] Was anything different about him when he did that?

Malia: [she pauses, trying to think. The moments were few and far between, but the one common denominator] He was using his wolf face. He was trying to scare us.

Derek: [yup, telling Laura. Give him a sec] Well, hopefully that will help Laura.

Malia: Yeah, hopefully.

Derek: Come on, you should sleep some more. It's been a long few months for all of us.

Malia: [makes a face before nodding. She doesn't pull away, though, just curls up into her brother and closes her eyes]

Derek: [and they will sleep]

Cora: [and eventually she will wrestle her way into consciousness again, and for a moment she doesn't want to move. She hasn't been somewhere this comfortable in a long time, let alone this close to Stiles. But she is hyper aware of how she smells right now so she will gently try and extract herself to see if she can go take her shower]

Stiles: [and he's going to let her go, mumbling in his sleep about bacon and then rolling into her scent in the bed]

Cora: [smiles a bit before going through his drawers to steal clean clothes from him and jumping into the shower and will repeat what Malia did with being in there for a very long time]

Stiles: [he hears the shower and isn't going to flip out like Peter. He's just going to end up in the middle of the bed, his nose buried in her pillow when she gets back]

Cora: [and come back she will, towel drying her hair, and just watches him for a moment. She still can't believe she's here, after three months being trapped and scared. It almost seems too good to be true, but she's going to do her best to take advantage of it. Fresh and clean and still wearing his clothes and smelling like his soap and shampoo, she climbs back into bed, nuzzling in next to him]

Stiles: [he'll moan a bit in his sleep, but he can smell her though all of the him smells and shift to make room for her naturally.]

Cora: [smiles softly and while she doesn't go back to sleep, she'll stay there watching him until he wakes up on his own]

Stiles: [it'll take him awhile to get the idea he's being watched, but eventually he will blink awake. And she will get a sleepy, happy smile] Hey, you're still here.

Cora: [smiles and nods] Yeah, I just took a shower.

Stiles: I can smell. I wasn't sure if you'd go off to find Derek or Peter.

Cora: [shakes her head] I'm not really sure ... here felt safer.

Stiles: Well, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you while I can help it. [he reached out and ran his hand along her cheek] I promise.

Cora: [smiles softly as she leans into his hand a bit] I know.

Stiles: I missed you so much.

Cora: I missed you too. I thought I was never going to see you again.

Stiles: I know. I had the same thoughts. I um... I told Laura a while ago that the pain I felt not being with you was something I held onto because I felt as long as it was there... I knew you were still somewhere alive for me to save.

Cora: [she glances down, her hand coming to rest against his chest] I'm sorry.

Stiles: For what?

Cora: For the last few months. For not being smarter.

Stiles: Hey, you couldn't have known he was coming at you, Cora. Just like I didn't know. Hindsight's always going to be better. You're safe, that's what matters now.

Cora: [keeps her eyes down] I hate that I couldn't stop them.

Stiles: Did they hurt you?

Cora: They took my control away. [which isn't being hurt physically, but it still hurts]

Stiles: You'll get it back. We'll all be here to help you.

Cora: I shouldn't have to get it back.

Stiles: Who knows, maybe next month you'll be fine. [he pulls himself closer, his hand sliding down to take hers] One day at a time, alright?

Cora: [closes her eyes and nods, tipping her head forward and burying her face against his shoulder]

Stiles: [and he is just going to hold her tightly, kissing her shoulder a bit] Just get some more sleep. I've got you.

Cora: [sighs softly as she nods and it doesn't take much for her to drift off again]

Stiles: [and he's going to be the one staying awake a bit, shifting to make her more comfortable while she slept, and finding his own way to nose at her neck and take in her scent, reminding himself that she was here, safe, and everything was going to get better. it had to]