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

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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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Lydia couldn't believe that she was sitting there talking about killing another person to make Peter stronger but that seemed mild compared to everything else in her life. Kneeling beside him, she brushed her fingers lightly over his forehead, trying to soothe him.

Cora was sitting straighter when she heard the yelp of pain, wanting to race to check on him as well, but then she was shaking her head slowly. "No." She knew it would hurt his pride if they did. "Lydia isn't yelling for us. We should only go if she does call out."

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The Alphas needed to go. Peter saw no reason he shouldn't profit from that. He took some slow breaths, closing his eyes and letting her touches soothe. He shifted more carefully, rolling onto his less damaged side and held out a hand for her as far as he could. "You need to lay down, too," he said quietly.

Hayley didn't look convinced, but she sort of thought male pride was sometimes a little ridiculous, but she took Cora's word for knowing better and shifted back to the earlier question. "Um..ok. So. There were five of them. Five siblings. But two of their brothers were killed last years, so now it's just Klaus and Elijah and their sister Rebekah."

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Lydia wanted to tell him that she was worried about hurting him but the urge to curl up next to him, to be close to him, was too overwhelming. So she scooted closer as she reached out to take his hand, her fingers linking with his as she laid on her side facing him. "Please heal." She murmured softly then, her eyes flickering over his face. "Or tell me if there's some kind of banshee thing I can do." She was feeling completely useless.

Cora fought back the urge to go downstairs as well, shifting uncomfortably on her bed while trying to focus on Hayley's words. "Elijah and Klaus seem so different. What is their sister like?" She wondered if this mysterious vampire was volatile like Klaus or calm like Elijah.

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Peter brushed a kiss over her hair. "I will, sweetheart. I should be fine by morning, I promise." He hoped. "There's nothing you can do, but stay close." He couldn't quite get his arm around her, but having her warmth against him, his hand around hers helped. It also let him not worry about her as much. Though on that note... "Grab my phone off the nightstand?"

Hayley considered. "She's more like Klaus in temperament than Elijah. She's got a temper. But she's also the only girl and has been the baby for a thousand years. She was about your age when they were turned. So...she's sometimes a mix of spoiled and like they've dismissed her all her life. You know how guys can be when they think they're doing shit for your own good, and you're a girl and they have to take care of you and they know better and all that patriarchal shit? Klaus and Elijah are the worst at it. I mean, you can kind of understand--for most of their lives that's how the world's been. But that means, she's a thousand years old, and they've indulged a lot of her whims, but also--made nearly every decision for her, and tried to rule her life for a thousand years...'for her own good.'" Hayley made a face. "She defied them recently, though. Refused to come to New Orleans with us, and...good for her, honestly. But...I don't know her really well, you know? Just...observed the few times we met."

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Lydia nodded again, shifting to roll over so he could grab his phone before moving to hand it over. "Going to try to get ahold of Derek?"

"So you're basically saying that Elijah is the only calm one out of them." Cora chuckled faintly but then she nodded. "I get it though. I'm the little sister too with an older brother and an older sister who acted like Alphas even when they were betas. Add in Uncle Peter and..." She shrugged a bit. "But I was only with them for about seven years..."

"So now you get to be a part of the vampires family." She continued on, not wanting to think of her own family. "That's got to be all kinds of weirdness."

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Peter shook his head. "No. I don't want to distract him if they're fighting. He'll call when he knows something." What he did do was set his alarm for two hours. "I don't expect we'll sleep easily, but...if we do...you still had a really hard hit on the head tonight."

"Pretty much," Hayley said with a wry smile, coming over and finally dropping down to sit on the end of Cora's bed. She gave her a look and wanted to press, but they were sharing more in their dancing around things, so she didn't want to ruin it. "And yeah, I guess I am. That's what Elijah says, at least. There were these witches and they wanted to hold me to keep a hold on Klaus, threatened to kill me if he stepped out of line. Elijah took me away from them. Told them that the baby was his family and that meant I was now his family, too, and..."

She smiled a little. "They were all talking about needing a hold over Klaus, over this other vampire, Marcel. They're terrified of both of them, right? And so, this witch tells Elijah that if Klaus deviates from the plan, they'll kill me and the baby. And Elijah just...walks up to her, calm as can be, and he says, 'I give you my word: if any harm comes to Hayley or her baby, you won't have to be afraid of Klaus or Marcel or anyone else in the world so much as me.' I have...never seen anyone so scared in my life. Klaus may be the single most physically powerful creature on the planet, and he may have a temper and he may be unpredictable and kill you in a fit of temper, but...Elijah is way more deadly when crossed. Because of the calm, you know? That whole...revenge is a dish best served cold, saying? That's Elijah. You'll weather the rage of Klaus and his ilk and then, when you least expect it...Elijah will destroy your whole world and make you beg to die before he lets you."

She shivered a little, but her eyes were glowing and there was a definite savage pleasure in that idea.

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"And you have busted ribs and possible internal bleeding." Lydia countered. "So if anyone needs to rest, it's you. I'll test later." Because, at this point in time, she fully intended to watch over him while he slept.

Cora nodded, the same dangerous glint in her gaze. "I got that sense the day I showed him to the Argents and the Alpha pack. I should have followed his lead and let him handed the twin." As much as she hated to admit it.

Then she looked at Hayley again. "So what does it mean for my brother? You bring a part of their family."

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"I'm resting," he murmured in protest, really not wanting to sleep until everyone was home and things were sorted. "I just...if we fall asleep, I need to be sure that you'll wake." He lifted her fingers to brush a kiss over them.

"Yeah, probably," Hayley agreed. "But I get wanting to do something yourself, after what they did."

She tucked her hair back behind her ear and shrugged. "I...don't know," she admitted. "I mean...it's only been a few weeks, you know? We haven't really talked about what the future looks like. There's been too much bad shit to just...get through. But, he wants me here, now, and I'm not leaving. And Elijah seems to get that, at least. Otherwise, they'd have just taken me and gone." She shrugged a little, gave Cora a wry smile. "Best case scenario? Vampires as inlaws?"

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"How can you make sure I'll wake if you're sleeping?" She asked with a small smile, brushing her thumb lightly over the bottom of his lip as she watched him with a quiet and tender gaze. Really, the idea that she could have lost him scared her still even if she knew he was safe at the moment.

Cora didn't smile though because she was wondering how that would work, especially since one of the vampire-in-laws would be the father of the baby that would be running around. "Do you think Derek and Klaus will get along one day?"

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Peter held up the phone with an eyebrow arch and a small smile. "Alarm," he murmured, before pressing a kiss to her thumb. He wanted to touch her, but his arm didn't want to move, so he just nibbled at her thumb. "I just don't want you to get worse..."

Hayley sighed and shrugged a little. "I don't know. Maybe? Klaus really doesn't give much of a damn about what I do when he's thinking straight. I think...honestly? I think it's wolf instincts and he doesn't know how to deal with them, or get past the instinct to rationality." She shrugged. "He's new at this."

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Knowing she was beat at the moment, she rolled her eyes with a bit of amusement. "Fine, I'll rest." But she was moving even as she agreed, sliding over his legs so she was behind him which was exactly where she stayed pressed against his back. "Now will you rest?"

Cora nodded her head. "So they're both going alpha mate on you?"

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Peter twisted just a bit--though it still made him grunt--and gave her a small smile. "All right..." He shifted back, and reached for her hand to keep a hold of her. "Hopefully they'll be back soon."

He didn't think he'd sleep, but he did close his eyes, thinking it would help him heal.

Hayley nodded. "That seems like it, yeah. It's kind of crazy frustrating."

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Linking their fingers, she pressed a kiss to his shoulder before settling into place, her breath warm against his spine as she nodded slightly. "Hopefully." She didn't want to think about all the way things could go wrong because she was sure they couldn't stand to lose any more people. She also worried about what would happen to Stiles and Scott if they lost their parents.

Letting her eyes drift closed, she tried to quiet her mind just enough that she could get some sleep.

"But does some part of you enjoy it?" Cora asked softly.

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She was warm at his back and her breathing soft and steady. Quieting his mind wasn't going well, but he at least let his body start to relax. His mind kept going over the problem of how to keep this from happening again. He needed to be stronger, to be able to protect her, to be who he wanted to be. The weakling of the pack was certainly not that.

Hayley gave her a look, arching an eyebrow and started to protest, then fell quiet for a while. "I don't know. Maybe a little. No one's ever really wanted me before for more than a hook up. Not even my parents. My birth parents gave me away and my adopted parents kicked me out when they found out I was a wolf. Left me to fend for myself...by choice." She knew there were kids on their own because of circumstances beyond anyone's control, but....they'd said they loved her and then kicked her out because of something she couldn't control. It hurt. "So...yeah, I guess. It's kind of nice. But it won't be if it goes on for any real length of time."

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"Stop." Lydia murmured softly, her lips brushing lightly against the back of his neck. "I can practically hear you thinking. You need to...think good thoughts. Think about healing." Her mind went back to when Scott hadn't let himself heal after Derek had nearly been killed.

Cora didn't seem surprised by the truth because she had been expecting it but she could appreciate Hayley being honest about it as well. Especially when she heard her reasons why. "I get it, I was alone for awhile too but now I'm back and I don't want to see my brother get hurt. Okay?" She wasn't threatening or arguing, she was just stating it plainly.

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"I'm thinking about how much I really want to kill Aiden," he murmured. "That's happy?" At least for him. He really wanted to be an Alpha again.

Hayley nodded a little and met the girl's eyes. "Elijah's not going to let Klaus fly off the handle and hurt him physically. I can't promise I won't ever hurt him any more than he can promise he'll never hurt me. It's too soon for us to know where this is going, and caring about someone always carries a chance of getting hurt. But I do care about him, Cora. I'll never deliberately hurt him, and I can promise that if I ever do, it won't be because I chose Klaus over him."

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Lydia made a soft noise not unlike a chuckle, as though he weren't talking about killing someone for power, and she brushed her hand over his chest lightly. "I guess it is."

Cora nodded her head again. "Okay." It put her mind at ease but not completely. She would just have to wait and see what was going to happen between everyone.

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Those were some of the joys of dating a semi-sociopath? He'd been all in favor of torturing the teacher earlier, and he wouldn't have held back. You made it into Peter's circle--a very small one--of people he cared about and he at least considered your happiness in conjunction with his. You weren't in that circle and...he could kill you without blinking if it served his purpose. "He wanted you, and I'm not certain it was just good taste on his part and not something more nefarious. He helped Kali hurt Hayley. He almost killed Cora." And none of that made him think about saving the boy.

Hayley wished she could offer something more definite, but in a world where half of the people that got married got divorced and with knowing Derek a matter of weeks...that really was the best she could do. She wanted it to work, but last week he was ready to send her away. For her safety, sure, but they'd have to talk about those impulses if they kept coming up.

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If anyone knew what Peter was like, it was certainly Lydia Martin. She knew how ruthless he could be when he wanted something and how quickly he would cut someone down if he thought they were in his way. So it wasn't a surprise to her that he would want to kill Aiden just for desiring her and that the other things he did were simply icing on the cake.

"Maybe thy were trying to figure out what I was too." She murmured softly, her fingers brushing over his chest, tracing lazy and nonsensical patterns as she tipped her forehead against the back of his shoulder. "Maybe see if they could use me against the pack?"

Cora wasn't looking for anything too definite at the moment but she wanted to be sure that it wasn't going to become a situation where Derek had to compete against someone else for his girlfriend's affection. Sitting on the edge of the bed again, she closed her eyes before glancing at the alarm clock with a groan. "This is taking forever."

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"Maybe," he murmured, though worry still laced his voice. "It won't matter, soon, anyway." The tracing pattern of her fingers was incredibly soothing, distracting his thoughts toward something calmer, warmer, closer to sleep.

"It really is." Hayley looked down to check her phone, frowning at the time.

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"Then maybe we can have some peace and quiet." She murmured, brushing her nose lightly against his shoulder as she noticed the sleepiness creeping into his voice. Her own voice had started growing husky from the need to sleep as well as just being cuddled close to him.

Cora looked over at Hayley again. "Do you want to lie down?" She knew that stress couldn't be good for her or the baby.

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"Wouldn't that be nice?" he asked in a soft voice, honestly headed toward sleep, though that shocked him. The little touches just put him more there. "I want you to be safe..."

Hayley gave her a wry smile. "I'm not sure that wouldn't be worse..." Though, no, none of this was good for her or the baby at all.

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"It would be." Lydia nodded, her eyes drifting closed again as she could feel him relaxing further. "I am safe. I'm here with you."

"Well, I'll keep sitting up if you do." Cora drawled somewhat stubbornly. "But I'll lie down if you do." It was blackmail, she knew that, but she figured Hayley would listen considering Cora had been dying less than an hour before.

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"I'm glad..." That she was here with him, safe. Just a murmur as he settled more. They'd have to call or come home soon, right? And he'd hear them. Nothing wrong with just resting until they did.

Hayley gave Cora a knowing look, but nodded. "Okay. Laying down might be good for both of us..."

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Her hand finally stilled against his chest, resting over here his heart was, as her breathing got slow and soft which was a sign she had finally fallen asleep.

Cora nodded, shifting to lie back while making sure to leave plenty of room for Hayley. Normally she wasn't keen on the idea of sharing her bed but she had no ulterior motives. They were simply sticking together to keep each other safe while they waited for the others to call or return with some kind of news.