spamalot } { hey it's good to be back home again

[impetere]

Cora: So you're saying he's not really going to be able to figure that out until we figure out where we stand?

Derek: I think he doesn't know what he wants right now beyond keeping that little girl safe. He needs to get that first before he's probably going to even think about himself.

Cora: [sighs softly] I'll do whatever he wants me to ...

Lydia: No. You aren't listening. As the resident crazy person, I'm making an executive decision. [she huffs and leans back against the seat] We're staying with your mother. And you and Stiles can deal with this like the theoretical adults that you are.

Derek: Thank you for being a voice of reason, Lydia. [looking at her in the rear view] And you're not a crazy person.

Cora: [is making a face but doesn't argue]

Lydia: You're not the one who had a mental breakdown and needed to leave Boston.

Derek: No, but at least you didn't a near death experience that drove you across the country for your own safety.

Lydia: That's self-preservation, not insanity. I had a screaming fit and was hearing voices in the middle of the commons.

Derek: Did they are least tell you how pretty you look today? [trying to make her feel a bit better]

Lydia: [a small smile at that, before turning her eyes out to the window] Well, it's certainly intersting to be home.

Derek: It's nice to have you home. [looks at his sister] You too, pup.

Cora: [glances back at him with a small smile] Any other surprises I should know about?

Derek: His daughter doesn't know what we are yet. But she's only three.

Cora: [she nods] So ex-nay on the erewolf-way.

Derek: Pretty much. [thinks] Oh, and Peter is Malia and Isaac's pet dog. [such a smirk]

Cora: [a sharp laugh] And he let her?

Derek: He was in coyote form at the time, and Dina is three. Pretty sure he didn't have a choice in the matter.

Cora: [she laughs harder] Poor Peter.

Derek: Dina and Ryan fell asleep on him. Mom has pictures. He couldn't shift out for almost two days [is laughing too hard]

Cora: [is laughing so hard she can't breathe] I'm sure he was very happy with that.

Derek: I think he secretly was, but we didn't see him for a day after.

Cora: Are he and Nadia still ... ?

Derek: I don't think Nadia's going to leave him because he became a pet for 48 hours.

Cora: No, but I think he might have been in it for the belly rubs.

Derek: [nope, back to laughing too hard]

Cora: [grins as her eyes turn back to the window again. She's missed this, being home with her family. It's good to be back]

Comments

[fadingspark]

"My daddy does that too," Dina smiled. "He makes really silly princess voices."

The little girl then looked at Lydia. "You have very red hair."

[impetere]

"Yes, I do," Lydia smiles, before holding out a hand to her. "My name's Lydia. I'm a friend of your dad's too."

A less notable one than Cora, she's sure, but still a friend all the same.

[fadingspark]

Dina reached up and shaked it firmly. "I can go get Daddy if you want to see him."

The front door opened and Stiles walked out onto the porch. He had on a purple hoodie, helping shadow the bruises on his face. It wasn't zipped up, and one arm wasn't through the sleeve and in the sling under it instead. "Actually, I'm right here, baby." He looked at Cora a moment with a small, sad smile, and then Lydia. "I thought I heard voiced out here."

[impetere]

Cora glances up from Ryan for a moment as well, and there's a small, sad smile right back. Seeing each other again shouldn't have been like this, but it is. She glances away when he looks to Lydia, though, schooling her face as though it never happened.

"I'd hug you, but I have a feeling that might be painful." She settles for a kiss on the cheek inside, moving closer and pushing up on her toes as she does. "How're you doing?"

[fadingspark]

"Feeling like the end of my first lacrosse practice except I was the practice dummy." He was trying to make jokes about it, since everyone know how bad the situation was. "How was the flight back?"

[impetere]

"Fantastic. I was sedated the entire time."

Cora grimaces a bit at that, not because of her being sedated but just because of how it sounded. "She was worried about having an ... episode on the plane. We decided against getting arrested."

Lydia gives a bit of a shrug, almost as though to say "it happens." "Is everyone here?"

[fadingspark]

"I um, I overheard about what happened. I'm sorry." He gave her a single shoulder shrug on his good side. "I can do some research on it if you want? I'm pretty useless otherwise right now."

Dina knew the adults wanted to talk from habit and went to take Ryan's hand. "Let's go color more," she told her cousin and led him back over to the others.

Stiles smiled at the kids, then moved to sit down slowly on the porch bench. "Most of them are. It's not five yet, but I think my dad's been trying to make sure there are at least four Hales in the house at all times."

[impetere]

"Well, that should be a little easier now that you're plus one more." Lydia goes to sit next to him easily, crossing her legs in front of her. Cora follows slowly, pushing herself up so that she's sitting on the porch railing next to them. "Plus she's already won the kids hearts and minds."

"I have a knack," Cora chimes in slowly. She lets her hands rub against her thighs for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it before glancing up at him again. "Circumstances aside, it's good to see you."

[fadingspark]

"Yeah, Dina's fitting in pretty good with them too, but she doesn't know about things yet. I'm not sure how to really tell her in a way to make sure she knows it's a secret."

He watched them a moment, then looked up at Cora. He was guarded in his eyes, the look of someone who's been hurt a lot in his life - which his body currently matched. But there was more of a sadness there, and loss. "It's good to see you too," he said after a moment, "I'm only going to be here until the divorce is finalized. Malia's boss got it expedited after the attack, so I shouldn't be in the way for long."

[impetere]

Cora isn't exactly all brash confidence either, but there's an openness there that he probably hasn't seen from her in a while. It's not in a way that's pressuring him to take, but more of a way of letting him know it's there, if that's what he wants.

And it's okay if it's not too.

"You're not in the way." It's stated quickly. Emphatically. Maybe a little too quickly, but after going so long without having him around, she's not exactly anxious to get rid of him. "I mean, I doubt my mom minds. She always liked having a full house."

[fadingspark]

"Yeah, she's said a few times about how nice it was having Dina around. Probably misses hearing all of us running around back in the day." stiles dropped his eyes first, looking at his hand that was tapping his leg nervously. "She really does miss you guys. And I'm in Derek's room. We put Dina in Laura's, but she can move in with me do you guys have rooms to stay in."

[impetere]

"No, it's fine." Cora doesn't want to put him out and if Dina is settled he doesn't have to move her. This is temporary for them, after all. "Lydia can have my room and I'll take the couch. We're supposed to be apartment hunting anyway."

"I'm sure sleeping on the couch will be an excellent motivator."

[fadingspark]

"Cora, this is your house. You're not sleeping on the couch in your own home." Stiles look at her his head tilted, his eyes asking her if she was really serious.

[impetere]

"It may be my house but you're a guest. Besides if Dina's already settled she shouldn't have to move. I'll be fine." She can safely say she's probably slept on worse. The Hales couch usually has someone sleeping on it anyway - this time, it just so happens to be Cora.

[fadingspark]

"Then I'll sleep in Laura's room and you can have Derek's. There's no reason you need to - Dina and I can easily share a bed."

[impetere]

Cora's about to open her mouth to protest again when Lydia holds up her hand between them, cutting her off at the pass.

"I know you two love to sublimate whatever frustration you're feeling towards each other into a fight about something as petty and useless as where people are going to sleep, so that you avoid fighting about what you actually want to fight about - which, for the record, is each other - but if we could not do it in front of the young, impressionable children, that would be great."

She glances between them, letting them know that they may have started this particular squabble, but she's ending it before it turns into a screaming match. Cora looks away at the accusation, a slight huff in her shoulders, but doesn't say whatever she was going to say.

"Now. Stiles, if you're so insistent, You can move in with Dina, I'll take Derek's room, and Cora can sleep in her own bed. Everyone wins."

[fadingspark]

Stiles looked down as Lydia talked, licking his lips a moment, then nodded. "Sounds like a plan." And he gets up to go, wincing at the pull on his rib, and makes to go inside. "I'll go move my stuff."

[impetere]

Lydia nods. "I'll go with you. In case you need a hand." Because she's not going to let you make yourself worse.

Cora nods in agreement, running a hand through her hair before getting up as well. "I should go find my mom. I'll come back for my stuff later, you can just move in."

[fadingspark]

He's about to protest, then just sighs and nods, not going to stop her. Lydia gets what Lydia wants, after all. He just motioned with his good arm for her to proceed him after he opened the door.

Isaac was inside in the living room, working on a laptop while still in uniform. His head lifted and he smiled at Lydia and then Cora as they walked in, tossing a quick greeting before getting back to work. Since he was technically on duty.

[impetere]

Lydia gives them both a wave before continuing to follow Stiles up the stairs to the rest of the house. He's not going to get rid of her that easily. She'll just trot behind him, looking around as she goes. "This is a nice house."

Cora, on the other hand, will take the detour to talk to Isaac, plopping down on the couch next to him. He doesn't have to say anything, she just missed him. Or maybe she will eventually say something, but for right now, she's just being quiet.

[fadingspark]

"It is a nice house," Stiles said, going to Derek's room. When he opened the door, Lydia would notice that Stiles is basically living out of a suitcase and a rolling table with his laptop on it. There's a basket for laundry that Talia had given him that was half full next to the suitcase, and a few pill bottles and an inhaler on the bedside table. "It's a shame you didn't spend more time with us back then when we were always here. We had a lot of fun in this place."

Isaac let her be quiet a moment, then sighed. "Give him time, Cora. His head is not in the right place lately."

[impetere]

"I'm not ... " Cora shakes her head, trying not to let what Lydia said get to her. "I just don't know how to be around him anymore. I want to, I just don't even know where to start trying to figure it out." She needs him to help her and he's not really in a place to help her right now. "Maybe I should just stay with Derek." Not that she wants to abandon Lydia, but if she's with her mom, she knows she'll be safe.

"It is. But I don't think I would have quite ... fit then either. I think Allison needed a friend who wasn't as in all this." There's a dry laugh at that. "Look at how well that turned out."

[fadingspark]

"Am I going to be the one to point out that you two avoiding each other is what got you both into this mess?" Isaac asked. "Usually it's my wife who enjoys pointing this stuff out, but it's a fact. And it took him a month before he'd even come out here with Scott. We're still pretty sure he's only here willingly because of Dina's safety. We've all had to figure out how to be around him again, and he doesn't make it easy. It's who he is now, but he's trying and you have to meet him halfway or he will shut you out."

"Well, that and Jackson was a complete douche none of us wanted to be around." Stiles said, using his one hand to repack the suitcase, but stopped at her laugh. He sat on the bed, watching her a moment. "You know, just because you found out you aren't human, it doesn't mean you still aren't you, Lydia. Do I need to give you the whole speech I gave Scott after he was bitten, because I can."

[impetere]

"I know! I know, and I'm not saying I won't." Cora wants that to be clear, because she doesn't not want to be around him. She hates avoiding him more than anything. "It's just everything I do or offer to do just ... starts a fight and that gets ... exhausting."

Lydia turns and gives him a bit of a look at that because yes, she's aware that she's still her. "For now, maybe. But I'm not like them, Stiles. I don't have claws or fangs, this isn't something I can control. I hear voices and find dead bodies without knowing how I got there, and there's only so much a human brain can take before ... " She lets her hands flop out to either side of her in an expression of frustration. "I wish I was a werewolf. At least then I'd have an excuse to be occasionally homicidal."

[fadingspark]

"Well, he does it to all of us. Right now he's probably not going to really let Lydia help him much either." He shifted to look at her more. "I see it in cases a lot - victims who basically are suffering from a form of PTSD. He's gone through literal Hell and who knows what really happened these last three years. He's not talking, and until he opens up, he's going to stay this way to all of us."


"Well, maybe you need to find an anchor. I mean, Scott wasn't able to control himself until he had something to focus on to be able to. I mean there has to be a way to learn to use it."