work_inprogress | Is it gone, tell me what went wrong / 'Cause baby I'm not that strong

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Is it gone, tell me what went wrong / 'Cause baby I'm not that strong

It wasn't that Peter wanted to leave Scott behind, by any means, but he'd rushed back in there and the Alpha twins--who'd flipped sides just like he'd said they would--were right behind them and Cora had already stopped breathing once. So, he snarled at Isaac who could see the twins behind them and knew, if nothing else, he had a duty to his pack--of which Peter and Cora were a major part.

He floored it.

The epinephrine had burned off a little too fast, which had been embarrassing, but the adrenaline was still pumping--possibly the only thing keeping him upright, honestly. That and needing to take care of his pack...Cora hadn't regained consciousness, and he could only hope someone had found Derek.

Isaac didn't know where Scott was, didn't know if he'd gotten out, and he was shaking, but he got them back to the loft safely. Sure, the pack knew where it was, but they knew where all of them lived and where else were they going to go? Better somewhere they could sort of defend. They didn't have Ms. Blake, anyway, so why would they come after them?

When they got to the loft, Peter got Cora out of the car, lifting her with a pained wince, but when Isaac tried to take her, he snarled at the boy until he ran ahead, getting doors instead, letting them all into the loft and skidding to a bit of a halt at finding Lydia and Hayley sitting there.

Peter noticed the girls, but didn't process, moving across to get Cora on the table, somewhere they could work on her more easily than the sofa. After he got her there, he just leaned against it, head hanging down, breathing a little too hard.

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"I wish I could have seen the look on her face when it happened." The vicious little muttering came from the bed and Cora glanced up at the inevitable look she got from her brother. "What? She nearly killed me."

"I know." Honestly, Derek didn't feel all that bad for what happened. "Let's go downstairs. I'm sure they'll be..." He paused as he heard the door sliding open then, tensing just a bit as he turned to exit the room.

Anticipating the Mikaelsons, he was surprised to see Allison alone. "Where are the others?" He noticed the tension in her then, the way her jaw was clenched tightly and her eyes looked strange. Almost like...

"Isaac called Scott and they're on their way to Scott's house." She replied tightly. "I just came to tell you and to check on Lydia."

Derek might've given Cora a look, but Hayley flashed her a bit of a smile, because, well. Yeah. She would have liked to see it, too. She hurried after Derek, pausing in surprise on the stairs at the sight of the girl. Hunter. She was obviously not happy about something, but Hayley didn't know her well enough to even guess what it might be.

"I think she and Peter are sleeping," she volunteered quietly, before tilting her head back up the stairs. "In the guestroom."

If Derek had known her better or they had a better history Derek might have asked Allison what was going on but he nodded. "They are." He confirmed what Hayley was saying. "Did you need her?"

Allison did need her friend but she also knew Lydia had been through a lot. "No, I'll give her a call tomorrow." A pause. "Thank you." She turned to leave.

Derek glanced sideways at Hayley with a shrug.

Hayley didn't know the girl at all, and was wary of her, hanging out by the bottom of the stairs, holding on to the rail. She echoed Derek's shrug, and then her ears caught familiar voices approaching the loft. Elijah and Klaus were bickering amicably about the genius of Beethoven versus Van Gogh.

They broke off their argument as they saw Allison there, Klaus giving her a smirk. "And the little huntress made it back out of the woods and to the big bad wolf's lair. Excellent."

Elijah rolled his eyes, giving Allison a smile. "Don't mind him. Getting rid of a magic user tends to make him giddy. You did well with the bow--perfect timed distraction."

Allison paused at the open door as the two vampires appeared to fill the doorway. Rolling her eyes towards Klaus, she lifted her chin almost defiantly while looking at him but then Elijah drew her gaze as she smiled in turn though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's okay." She really didn't need an apology but the compliment was nice. "Thank you. Good job on the... " She motioned at his chest. "Gross but impressive."

"Makes me sad I missed it." Cora commented from the middle of the stairs before she descended the rest of the way, scooting around Derek and Hayley.

Klaus just arched an eyebrow at Allison and prowled into the loft, giving Cora an amused look, before glancing at Hayley. "Careful, little wolf. This one's as bloodthirsty as you."

Elijah shook his head and gave Allison a wry smile. "Thanks, I think."

"It's kind of his signature," Klaus added.

Elijah glanced around. "Where is everyone else? I thought we were meeting back here..."

Cora shot Klaus a small smirk before looking away.

Allison nodded as Elijah thanked her and then she was looking at Klaus. "What's yours?" She couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Allison said that they went back to Scott's house." She drew closer and then paused a couple steps away from Elijah, her eyes flicking down. "Your hands are still bloody." She nodded. "I'll show you the bathroom so you can clean up."

"Do you want something to drink?" Derek asked Klaus as he took a step off the last stair. See? He could be polite.

Klaus shrugged a little at Allison's question. "I like being creative. To suit the situation."

Elijah gave his brother a look, then a smile to Cora, glancing down. "I thought I'd done better, but I suppose there's only so much a handkerchief. Thank you." That everyone had gone to their homes seemed reasonable.

Klaus looked at Derek, studying him for a moment. "Sure. Cheers."

Hayley was still mostly hanging out by the stairwell, watching with a little frown.

"I can imagine." Allison mused though she was trying not to smile.

Cora shrugged as if to say 'no problem', motioning for Elijah to follow as she led him to the bathroom. "Sink is there and the towel is there."

Derek glanced over at Allison. "Did you want to stay for a drink?"

Klaus winked at Allison. Hayley rolled her eyes and moved to perch on the edge of Derek's desk, while Elijah murmured his thanks to Cora.

"You could have licked them clean if you weren't so fastidious," Klaus told him.

Elijah paused in the bathroom door and gave him a horrified look. "...I did not want her blood in me..."

"I don't blame you. Her blood could have been poisonous." Cora muttered.

Allison arched a brow at the wink but then she was nodding to Derek. "Sure but then I should get going." She set her bow down on a nearby desk.

Derek nodded, glancing over at Hayley. "I have juice?" He offered as he walked into the kitchen area.

"It certainly didn't smell appetizing," Elijah said, finally moving in to scrub his hands, thoroughly.

Klaus rolled his eyes at his brother, quite as exaggerated as any Hale, but settled back and nodded at Hayley. "That's right--none for you."

"Please. I know that." She gave Derek a smile. "Juice would be great, thanks."

"It really doesn't." Cora replied with a nod as she started to move away. "It kind of smells like mistletoe."

Derek nodded, grabbing the whiskey from the cupboard, a few glasses and then a bottle of juice. Carrying them back, he put the whiskey and the glasses on the coffee table before offering the juice to Hayley.

Drawing near, Allison claimed one of the chairs, sitting on the edge as she watched Derek pouring them all a glass of whiskey then and she nodded when he handed her one. She'd only had whiskey once before but she remembered that it didn't taste all that good. Still, after what she had just seen, any sort of alcohol would be good.

"Excellent for kissing, not for eating," Elijah said with a nod, coming back out, drying immaculate hands.

Hayley took the juice with a smile for Derek and a murmur of thanks, giving the teens a bit of a look of amusement. She was fond of whiskey, but...it was an acquired taste, she knew.

Upstairs, the sheer number of voices--and the fact that no one was being quiet as Derek had been--pulled Peter to wakefulness. He shifted, wincing, but it wasn't quite so sharp of a pain. He didn't want to pull away from Lydia, but he didn't want to wake her, either.

He did want to see what had happened, though, so he eased out from under her arm, sitting up and pausing until he could breathe without pain. Once upright, it got easier, though reaching for his shirt caused another well of pain, so he gave up on that idea.

"I don't need mistletoe for kissing." Cora shook her head, sitting down after grabbing a glass of whiskey. "In fact, I plan to stay as far away from mistletoe as I can."

Ignoring the fact that his sister was talking about kissing, Derek motioned for Hayley to join him as he claimed another chair as Cora sat down on the couch. "I don't blame you. I could go for awhile without seeing it too."

Allison really had nothing to say as she took a small sip of her whiskey, swallowing the burn down as she watched everyone over the rim of her glass.

Upstairs, Lydia knew almost instantly when Peter was gone. Especially when he couldn't move as easily as usual.

Struggling to wake up, she opened her eyes in time to see him reaching for his shirt though he seemed to give up pretty quickly. Biting back a yawn that instantly made her wince, she cleared her throat gently as she sat up and scooted towards him. "Let me help, sweetheart."

Elijah looked amused as he picked up his whiskey and moved to settle next to Klaus, not as familiarly as he would have at home or in private, but still close enough that their bickering was clearly shown to be only that.

Hayley moved to perch on the arm of Derek's chair, leaning into him for support. "It does seem to cause more problems than not," she agreed.

Peter shifted back toward Lydia. "They're back. I just want to see what happened." He wasn't sure that his shirt was worth the pain to get it on, but...then he also wasn't crazy about Derek seeing him actually injured, either.

Cora glanced over at Elijah as he settled between her and Klaus before focusing on Hayley again with a nod. "I'm still not sure how she got it into my system though."

"Probably magic. She was able to do a lot of things that she shouldn't have been able to do." Derek murmured, his gaze shifting down to the whiskey in his hand.

"I can hear them." Lydia slid off the bed, grabbing his shirt as she moved around to stand in front of him. Swinging it over his shoulders, she held up the left side so he could slide his arm in with very little movement. "Here, just move slowly." She was worried, knowing he hadn't slept long enough, but she wasn't going to keep him from going downstairs. Once he had his arms in the sleeves, she concentrated on the buttons.

Klaus nodded in agreement with Derek, though his lazy gaze was watching the way Hayley leaned against him, assessing. "Magic's a tricky thing, especially when you tap into blood magic and the darker sides of it." He shrugged slightly. "Sacrifices carry enormous power."

Elijah snorted, giving Klaus a look. "As we would know."

Hayley's gaze dropped, away from Klaus's, before she took a sip of her juice. Sacrifices...really weren't something she wanted to talk about.

With Lydia's help, Peter managed to get in the shirt without too much trouble, and gave her a small smile once she had it buttoned. "Thank you..." Standing, he offered her his right hand. "You want to go down, too?"

Allison was watching the way Klaus studied Derek and Hayley as Derek slid a hand over Hayley's back, rubbing gently as he nodded his head. "Stiles did say that she had clearly been going down the wrong road. She was doing so to go against the Alpha pack though. She said we had no idea what they were really like."

"Of course." Lydia nodded, straightening her clothes. "After the last twenty four hours, I'm not letting you out of my sight any time soon." As much for herself as for him. Then she paused, hesitating as she brought her fingers to her neck. "How bad does it look?"

"A lot of what turns out to be the deadliest, most destructive magic often starts from good intentions," Elijah said quietly, with a bit of a frown. "The ends justifying the means is all very well and good until you wind up achieving your goal and find the cost was far too high."

Klaus frowned a little a his whiskey, then sighed, taking a sip.

"Well, you're all looking fairly somber for a win, yet not quite as crushed enough for a loss," Peter said from the top of the stairs, before starting down he winding stairs to the main floor, hand still in Lydia's. "Did we rescue our captured comrades?"

The group was silent until Peter's voice rang out over them, drawing Derek's attention upwards as he looked at his uncle and the girl trailing down behind him. Even with knowing, it was still strange to see and know that Peter was involved with Lydia Martin or the fact that he had claimed her as his mate.

"We did." Derek nodded towards the vampires. "They took care of Jennifer while Stiles and Allison's dad got to the Sheriff and Scott's mom. They're at home now."

"Thank god." Lydia murmured, her eyes flickering to Allison. "Did you guys tell Scott?"

The mention of the boy in question made Allison's eyes drop a bit but she nodded. "He was on his way home last I knew." She murmured before taking a longer sip of her whiskey this time.

"I knew you two might come in handy," Peter said with a grin at the vampires that was lighter than he felt as they reached the bottom of the stairs. His body was compensating for the ribs, or he was covering for them well.

Klaus gave him an amused look and raised his whiskey in salute. "There's whiskey that's not half bad."

"Excellent." Peter gave Allison a look at the downcast eyes, and squeezed Lydia's hand. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll get us drinks."

Unfortunately for her, he brought her a bottle of juice like Hayley's when he came to join her with his own whiskey in hand.

Derek bit back a light snort as Peter praised the vampires, leaning into Hayley as he did so he could press his face lightly against her side. The night had been a strain on him and, truthfully, he was pretty much at the point of being done. He just wanted to go to bed, drag her along with him and curl around her for a few hours in the hope that nothing would disturb them for awhile.

Lydia was studying Allison too, seeing almost immediately that there was something wrong and she had a sinking feeling she knew what. She might have even dragged Allison off to ask but she was distracted by Peter reappearing with their drinks. Arching a brow, she did scoff then as she reached to pluck the whiskey away from him. "I don't want juice."

Hayley was about done, too, and Elijah was watching them closely. He gave her a little smile and a nod. He'd drag Klaus out soon. She wrapped an arm around Derek's shoulder, fingertips playing with his hair.

Peter frowned at Lydia and took the whiskey back. "Then your other choices are soda or water. You're not having a whiskey chaser with your Percocet."

The feel of her fingertips in his hair had Derek tilting his head back to look up at Hayley with a small smile, knowing she understood.

Lydia paused when she would have reached for the whiskey again, pursing her lips before giving up and sighing. "I don't even feel them anymore." She muttered, taking the juice from him. "I think they've already worn off."

Allison finished her drink, setting the empty glass down. "Maybe they don't work on you the same now." She felt a little more relaxed now which was nice but driving was going to pose an issue. Still... "I should get home. Deucalion might not be in a good mood tonight and I don't want my Dad home alone."

Is it gone, tell me what went wrong / 'Cause baby I'm not that strong

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