canon au } { post-6a, of returns home and long absences

[impetere]

Sheriff: [and he will have been asleep on the couch because that's how far he got when he finally got off work, so he will jump awake, hand going to his gun a moment before he sees who it is] You're back.

Jody: [nods with an exasperated look on her face, more at the girls than at him] We're back. [glances back over her shoulder] Alright, to your corners, both of you. [and both the girls glare at each other before sulking off for some actual privacy]

Sheriff: [chuckles] Glad to see some things haven't changed.

Jody: They've been stuck in a motel with the Winchesters for weeks. It would drive anyone stir crazy. [sighs as she goes to flop down next to him] How're you doing?

Sheriff: Exhausted. When the ghost rider's station collapsed, I reappeared in the station in the middle of a shift. This was as far as I got when I got home before crashing.

Jody: [sympathetic look] Well, in that case maybe we should get you into an actual bed.

Sheriff: [looks up the stairs] I think I need to clean out the room first before I can sleep up there.

Jody: [glances up and she knows what he means, and nods sympathetically, before rubbing his shoulders] Then go back to sleep here. I gotta check in at the station anyway.

Sheriff: Hold on, before you go. [and he's going to cup her cheek and lean in to kiss her]

Jody: [sighs softly as she kisses him back, because yeah, she missed that quite a bit]

Sheriff: [and when he finally pulls apart from her] I love you.

Jody: [and that makes her smile] I love you too.

Sheriff: I meant what I said in the car the other day.

Jody: [deep breath] Yeah, we're going to have a much longer talk about that when you're not running on fumes. [leans in to kiss him again] I'll pick up dinner on my way home.

Sheriff: [smiles into the kiss] Yes ma'am. See you when you get back.

Jody: [she nods and off she goes to check in at the station and make sure her desk is still in order, and send the girls texts to let the sheriff sleep. Which in the end may result in the sheriff waking up with a blanket and a better pillow behind his head because Claire is a nurturer, even if she doesn't like to admit it]

Sheriff: [which he will, and then eventually he will head upstairs to pull out a box and start to box up all of Claudia's stuff]

Jody: [and Jody will return with enough pizza to feed an army because while she knows Cora is sleeping, she also knows how werewolf healing factors work]

Sheriff: [and he will be coming down with the final box] Dinner time already?

Jody: That's what happens when you sleep through most of the day. [opens a box and turns it to face him] I figured pizza was a good, easy meal.

Sheriff: [smiles at the smell] Yes, that will do it.

Jody: Good. I'll grab the plates. [and she will do that and shout up the stairs that food is here]

Stiles: [there is shouting that makes his stir a bit, only to just pull the blanket over his head and hide in his bed]

Cora: [yeah she doesn't like the noise either, but then her nose catches something else] Pizza.

Stiles: Too tired to eat.

Cora: [she would like to say the same but her stomach goes DON'T YOU DARE, GET UP AND FEED ME probably because she hasn't really ... eaten anything since she gave birth. whoops] I'll be right back. [and she will start to slip out of bed, claim two of the pies for herself and make her way back upstairs to devour at least one of those pies by herself]

Stiles: [and now that the pies are in a place where he can smell them, his stomach would like to point out that he hasn't eaten in days/months and get the hell out of bed asshole. He will groan, and then sit up a bit. Ignore his drooling] Fine, you win stomach. I'll eat.

Cora: [smirks and pushes the pie towards him] Mine said the same thing.

Stiles: [opens the box and it's not the kind he likes, but he doesn't care. food. He is going to devour a slice almost immediately, and his stomach will cramp to remind him to slow down] Make up your mind, body. Do you want food or not?

Cora: [glances over] It does. But the same thing happened to me when I got out of the vault. My stomach had to get used to eating normally again. Just ... slow down a little.

Stiles: [whimpers and leans against the headboard] I hate this.

Cora: I know. [shifts and goes to sit next to him more] But it'll pass.

Stiles: I hope so. [he looks at her] Three months? I really missed three months?

Cora: [looks up at him nervously for a moment, before nodding] Yeah. It was three months.

Stiles: Jesus. [and he's going to start on his second slice] I'm sorry.

Cora: [the apology eases something in her, and she knows that the proper response is that it wasn't his fault, but she can't bring herself to give it at the moment] You're back now. That's what matters.

Stiles: Yeah, thanks to you. [he looks over at her, smiling a bit] I tried to get back, but Peter reminded me that I lack a healing factor and not to do anything stupid.

Cora: And you listened to him. I am officially impressed.

Stiles: Yeah, well I had to keep the Winchesters in line anyway. Olivia wanted to break stuff.

Cora: [she laughs] Sounds about right.

Stiles: Yeah. The riders weren't all that happy about that.

Cora: That doesn't surprise me either.

Stiles: The best I could do after a while was just not sit on the benches. It would pull away who you were.

Cora: But you're here now. That's what matters.

Stiles: Yeah. [finishes his slice and looks over at her] So beyond the obvious, what else did I miss?

Cora: [she gives a small shrug] I don't know. I sort of ... got disconnected for a while.

Stiles: Were you here when... I mean while she...

Cora: [oh. well.] The sheriff still let me sleep here, so. Yeah.

Stiles: [nods] Was she nice to you at least?

Cora: Yeah. But it wasn't ... she was always distant. Like she didn't know how to handle me.

Stiles: You were an anomaly to her plan.

Cora: I guess.

Stiles: [licks his lips] Well, I'm just glad you and Dad found your way back to remembering me.

Cora: [and she keeps her eyes down on her hands because yeah - she still feels a little guilty about how hard she fought that] Yeah.

Stiles: [and he will look over at her, nudging her a bit] Hey, I'm not mad that you forgot me for a while. I knew it was going to happen. You had already forgotten me by the time I found you to warn you.

Cora: That's not it. [she takes a deep breath as she places her pizza to the side for a moment] I didn't want to remember.

Stiles: [blinks] What?

Cora: [she closes her eyes because she knows he's not going to be happy] There was no guarantee that me remembering anything was actually going to help, and I've spent so much of my life, let alone the last ten months, being sad and depressed and heartbroken, I didn't want to do it again. I thought it would be easier if I just ... let you stay forgotten.

Stiles: Oh. [yeah, that's a stab through the heart. He takes a deep breath, licking his lips as he nods] I um…I guess I can see why you'd think that. Everything considered.

Cora: [takes a deep breath and just buries her face in her hands] Other than getting you back, yesterday was just ... a really shitty day. [there's a beat as she tries to figure out how else to explain it] And, I mean, before you - my life was pretty much a string of dead people. Everyone I ever really cared about was dead. You were the first person to get me to ... get attached in a long time. Without remembering you, I didn't really have a pack. Peter was gone too, so it was just me and Derek fighting all the time. I didn't really know what it was I was fighting for or why it was worth it.

Stiles: [nods] Cora, you don't have to explain. [please stop his voice is really saying]

Cora: [she nods because she can hear that and that really only makes the guilty expression on her face worse] I want to be better. [she can tell that even with having him back, something isn't quite right]

Stiles: Well, I'm here now. I can help. If you let me. [because that was something they were already starting to have issues with during her pregnancy]

Cora: [yep, this isn't a new thing. and she wants to believe he can help her because he helped her before. so she nods] That's what I want.

Stiles: Good [and he will reach over to squeeze her hand]

Cora: [squeezes his back, before shifting over to curl against his shoulder]

Stiles: [and he will hold her with one arm. The other goes to pick up the third slice of pizza, but he decides he's not hungry anymore and puts it back, closing the box up and pushing it aside]

Cora: [moves the box to the floor and shifts so that they can curl up more]

Stiles: [which is good, and he will just gently rub her back, settling back into the bed] You know, I'm not going to be able to hide in here with you much longer. I'm sure Scott is going to break through my window if I don't show up at his place soon.

Cora: Okay. [a beat] I should probably go see Peter too. [not Derek. Derek has the baby and she can't see Derek]

Stiles: I'm sure he would appreciate it. He's probably working with rebuilding his connection to Malia.

Cora: [she nods] So we'll do that and come back here?

Stiles: Yeah. [though he will probably take a swing by Derek's to see the baby.]

Cora: [which is totally fair. they get up and get dressed and we can skip to that?]

Stiles: [yeah. Because he would probably wait until Derek went out to visit]

Dawn: [well Dawn is here, whenever he's ready]

Stiles: [and there will be a knocking on the loft door]

Dawn: [and she will slip a sleeping Joy back into her bassinet before going to open the door and greeting him with a smile] Hey, Stiles.

Stiles: Hey. [yeah, he's a bit nervous] I'm just making the rounds, checking in on people that I haven't seen in a few months. [not a lie, but it's an excuse]

Dawn: [yep, she knows better] Want to come in and see her?

Stiles: If that's alright? I mean, if she's sleeping I don't want to disturb you guys.

Dawn: [shakes her head] She's sleeping but she does a lot of sleeping. You won't bother her.

Stiles: I know I shouldn't be here... but I haven't been here for a lot of things. [and he was supposed to be there when the baby was born. He was supposed to get to hold her. To help Cora after. The Riders took that from him]

Dawn: Stiles, you are welcome here whenever you want. [she pulls him in gently and closes the door behind him] I know this is hard, and technically she's ours, but she's yours too. You can see her anytime.

Stiles: Yeah, but I don't want Cora smelling her on me. She's having a hard time as it is... she was having a hard time. Both? But I don't want to upset her and make her feel guilty that I'm seeing the baby and she doesn't want her and it's a mess. An awful mess and I just don't know what to do.

Dawn: No one knows what to do with stuff like this. [starts to walk him towards the bassinet] But we'll figure it out. One step at a time.

Stiles: Yeah, I guess. It’s just... it's only been a few days for me. I come back and everything changed.

Dawn: Yeah. I know how that goes. [she rubs his shoulders gently before stopping in front of the bassinet] And this is Joy. [who is out cold, arms stretched out next to her head and breathing deeply]

Stiles: [and he will look down, a small smile on his face] How'd you come up with that one?

Dawn: Joyce is an old lady name. I liked Joy better. Occasionally I call her Joybug.

Stiles: Well, she is tiny. [he doesn't reach for her though, keeping himself distant on purpose] And she didn't get my goofy ears. That's good.

Dawn: No, but she's a talker. Probably gets that from you.

Stiles: Compared to Cora, of course. [he smirked]

Dawn: Yeah. Exactly what I meant. [pats him on the shoulder]

Stiles: I um, I had something for her. [and he will slide his backpack off his shoulder and opens it, pulling out an onesie.] I saw it and I just thought it was cute.

Dawn: [sees it and grins] I love it.

Stiles: Thanks. [he holds it out to Dawn]

Dawn: [and she takes it] She'll have to grow into it, but I have a feeling she'll love it too.

Stiles: I hope so. [licks his lips] You guys are going to be good parents, you know.

Dawn: [a softer smile] I hope so. He already loves her a lot.

Stiles: Good. Good. [and he's going to back away, trying not to let himself get overwhelmed] I should go...

Dawn: [she nods] Okay. I'll see you later?

Stiles: Yeah. Just remember to send my dad pictures, ok?

Dawn: Of course. He's totally Grandpa Sheriff.

Stiles: Good. I don't want my dad to lose his connection with her.

Dawn: Nope. He's the only grandpa she's got. Thomas is dead and my dad ... my dad is not allowed.

Stiles: I'm not even going to ask. [he's going to keep going to the door] Let's just keep my stop here between us?

Dawn: [nods] My lips are sealed.

Stiles: Thanks. [and with a small smile, he will duck out the door, shrugging his backpack back on as he goes towards Scott's]

Dawn: [and she will tuck the onesie away, before going to take a nap while Joy is sleeping]