"Cora?" Peter knocked at the door but for a long second, there was no answer. "Can I come in?"
Her muffled yes got almost lost in the noises of the people downstairs. With him returning from the dead, there was a lot to talk about but Peter didn't strain his ears to catch what they had to say about him. Or Derek.
"Hey." Peter stepped into the room Cora was sharing with her mother. They had been living here for a few days now, their scent had settled in but otherwise, the room felt impersonal. There were no personal items, just some clothes and basics like a hairbrush on the nightstand.
Right, they were living from donations, everything they had owned had been lost in the fire.
Cora was sitting on the other side of the double bed, her back to him.
"How are you doing?" Peter asked while he walked around the bed. He sat down next to her.
"Fine." She gave him a clipped answer without looking at him.
"Your mom said that you're not doing so fine," Peter said. "That this whole thing has gotten to you."
"I'm sorry." Her voice broke and she sounded close to tears. "I … didn't know. I didn't want …"
"Hey," Peter repeated and put an arm around her shoulders. She was stiff and rigid but she didn't throw him off. "You were trapped in a burning house, you thought that you would die."
Peter paused, wondering what kind of nightmares were waiting for him. He didn't have time to process what had happened and with Derek things like that didn't matter. Derek had been right when he'd said that there were no nightmares with him.
"We all could have died," Peter continued. "That we made it out alive doesn't mean that we're unscratched. You're not alone."
"You didn't make it out alive." She pointed out. "Not really. And now you have to stay with Derek. Forever."
"I'm here now." Peter hugged her closer and this time she gave in, just a little bit. "Being with Derek also means that I'm basically immortal. They can't harm me any longer. Those hunters won't know what hit them." His feral grin had a hint of too much teeth, he felt his gums itch with the need to drop fangs.
He had been determined to find those hunters before. For kidnapping the kids and to get rid of a threat in general. Now he had to avenge his own death. They would not get away with this.
He needed to check in with John to get up to date with the investigation, though.
"Are you going to kill them?" Cora asked in a small voice. "Derek said that if the sheriff can't catch them, he will go after them. He wants to kill them. Everybody responsible."
That was new to Peter. Derek didn't like to kill, Stiles had stressed that point and he'd shut him down when Peter had suggested siccing Derek on the hunters. Why Derek was willing to make an exception now Peter didn't know but he would take it.
"Not sure yet," Peter admitted. "But with John, Derek, and me on their asses, there is no place in the world where they can hide." According to Stiles Derek only needed a name to find a person and if John hadn't been twiddling his thumbs while Peter had been out of commission, he should have those by now. Stiles had mentioned that he'd even made an arrest.
"That's good," Cora said but sagged into herself. A wave of mixed emotions hit Peter's nose, looked like revenge was not the thing that would help her through this. Which was probably for the better, it was not a good coping mechanism, Peter knew that. But he would go down that path anyway. Kate Argent and her goons had attacked his family, his pack. She had hit them where it hurt the most, at the house, their den. They were supposed to be safe there and it had almost become their grave.
"I want to be alone for a while."
"Okay." Peter stood. "You can talk to me, you know that, right?"
She nodded to that, eyes fixed on the floor.
When he'd come here, Peter had been confident that he would get through to her, they had bonded before, but now he got the feeling that he'd somehow pushed her away even farther.
With mixed feelings, he left the room. Downstairs Talia gave him a questioning look to which he could only shake his head.
"She needs time," he said. "The last few days have been a bit much. For all of us." He had a look around. Most of his pack was here and he could see in their faces what they had been through. While he'd been sleeping in a hospital bed. Part of what they had been through was the fact that he'd been in a hospital bed but he didn't want to think about that.
While he had been upstairs, Pamela had put the pack to work in the kitchen. According to her, Peter needed some real food and not that stuff they had pumped directly into his veins to keep him alive while he'd been in a coma.
Nancy's table was not big enough for this many people but most of them were fine with eating their sandwich standing. Peter got a chair, Pamela insisted, and he ate with Emily tucked into his side. It almost felt like a chaotic meal in their kitchen at home. He was no longer the center of attention, people were talking in little groups. What to do with the house and insurance stuff came up along with what they needed to replace first. At one point or the other, though, every conversation circled back to Peter and his current situation. They were worried about him and of course, they wanted to know how it was, staying at the bottom of the lake with Derek. Peter glossed over that with a snarky comment, which just added to their suspicion but the feeling of being with Derek was hard to describe and way too personal for Peter to share.
"We need to meet Derek now, you know that, right?" Walter spoke up. "Since he's kind of family now."
"Not sure if I would put it like that." Peter did not want to think of Derek as family. His relation with the lake creature was not like that. Peter could not deny the feeling that he was a prisoner, on a long leash but a prisoner nevertheless. However, Derek was Stiles' family. Did that make him some kind of in-law?
His family met Derek sooner than expected because not even ten minutes later, Derek stood in the door to the kitchen.
"Peter," he said, ignoring the rest of the pack in the living room. Everybody was instantly on their feet, the humans backing off and the werewolves at Peter's side with Talia right in front of him, placing herself between Peter and Derek.
"I swear, we're usually not that hostile," Peter said but couldn't help the proud feeling at the sight of his pack, trying to protect him. But like Stiles would say, resistance was futile. Derek was here to bring him back to the lake and there was nothing he could do about that.
"It's okay." Peter put a hand on Talia's shoulder to calm her down. "You knew this would happen."
When Talia loosened her stand, the rest of the pack let their guard down as well but Michael and Isaac didn't leave Peter's side. Isaac most likely just wanted a first-row seat for what was about to happen but Peter still appreciated the gesture.
"You might have guessed it, this Derek," Peter introduced him to his pack.
"He really doesn't have tentacles," Emily piped up from behind her mother. "Is he going to take you with him? Are you going through the pipes? Can I see?"
Peter did not know how he felt about the idea of going through the pipes with Derek, and for sure he didn't want the whole pack to watch, but he didn't even have a car so he couldn't offer to drive them back to the lake. A car was another thing on his never-ending list of things he needed to replace.
"Yes, but you're not going to watch." Peter gave her a stern look but after a second he included the whole pack. He loved them and they had been ready to fight Derek for him but he did not want this to become some kind of freak show. "We're using the bathroom."
At least that room had a door he could close in their faces.
Emily pouted at that but Derek took it as his cue to move. For a second it looked as if Talia wanted to block his way but then she let him pass.
"I'm not taking him away," Derek said, meeting her eyes. "His body isn't fully healed yet, that's why he couldn't stay for long."
Peter didn't like to admit it but Derek was right. He was feeling better by the minute but he was still healing slower than he was used to. There was still a deep ache in his bones.
"I'll see you soon," Peter promised and with that, he followed Derek to the bathroom. Before somebody else could say something, he shut the door.
"What now?" Peter asked, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He had witnessed Derek taking Stiles with him but actually doing this?
"It doesn't hurt," Derek said and put a hand on his shoulder.
It was over in a second. Just a pull in his guts and the feeling of speed and then he was back in the lake. On instinct, Peter held his breath and tried to swim to the surface but Derek held him back.
"Relax," Derek said and to his surprise, Peter did just that. A second later he sank into Derek. It was still a weird feeling.
"I could get used to this," Peter admitted. The deep ache in his bones was gone and he felt his mind calming down.
"As if you have any other choice," Stiles spoke up next to him.
Peter raised an eyebrow at him but when Stiles snuggled into his side, literally, they were kind of semi-liquid again, he lifted his arm to draw him in even closer.
Peter didn't know how much time had passed, he finally understood what Stiles meant when he said that it was hard to keep track of time when he was with Derek, but when Stiles rose and tugged at his arm, Peter went with him.
Peter came out of the lake dripping wet but since he was still wearing Stiles' clothes, he didn't care that much. At the cabin, they got dressed and Stiles made them coffee. Then they were sitting at the small table with steaming mugs in front of them and a heavy silence hanging over them.
"I'm sorry." Stiles was the first to speak. "I never wanted this for you."
Peter stretched out his legs and leaned back with a sigh. He didn't have the time to think about his situation, he didn't know what it meant long-term.
"Beats being in a coma," he said. He didn't remember much about that time but there had been fire and pain.
"Still." Stiles didn't look him in the eye. "If you're mad at me, I'd understand. And if you want to break up with me, I would understand that too. Would be awkward as hell but I would understand."
"I'm not mad." Peter studied the heavy beams holding up the ceiling. This was Stiles' cabin, he was a gust here. "And I'm not breaking up with you but …" Just to make Stiles squirm he didn't finish the sentence.
"But …?" Stiles prompted quickly, making Peter smile.
"If I'm stuck here at the lake, I want a place of my own. With a shower and an electric stove."
"Decadent much?" Stiles gave him a look but the smell of anxiety clouding him eased off.
"I have my standards."
"Now I'm picturing a mansion." Stiles got a dreamy face. "Make sure to add a new pier, the old one is barely holding it together."
Talia had told him about the plans she had with the burned-down house. That she wanted to rebuild it. That was going to be a mansion.
Peter would always have a room there, he would always be part of the pack. He didn't want anything like that here. A big but empty house would just be depressing. But a cozy little cabin with some modern luxury? He could get behind that. Besides, it would be a shame to ruin the scenery.
"We'll see." Peter sat up straight again. "First I want to find those hunters."
