everyonelives | someone is on your side

[Yeah, she's not getting into this with Derek, so she's just going to ignore it.]

Yeah, they. Isaac's back now and he's probably going to be sticking around for a while, and I'm pretty sure Allison and Lydia are heading back now that everything is settled here, so ... they don't need me.

( Smooth, really. )

You're more than welcome. We may need to stay in the city until there are rebuilt cabins. We may need to help rebuild the cabins.

( You're signing up for manual labor? )

Sounds good to me.

[She could honestly use the manual labor. It means she can drown out her brain for a while, or have a place to put her feelings.]

I could use something productive to do.

You're always welcome.

( Any place Cora needs, Derek will always arrange it. )

To talk, too, if that's what you want to do.

I'm not sure what there is to talk about.

[Which isn't a deflection so much as an admission because nothing did happen with her and Stiles. It's not as though he owed her anything with how he disappeared, and clearly she wasn't helping if he felt he had to leave.

But it still hurts, in a way she didn't expect, and expressing that to Derek only seems thornier.]

I'm fine. Really.

( The one thing Cora can't conceal is her emotion. But, Derek knows better than to pick at an new, or old, wound when it isn't his. Instead, he brings a hand to her shoulder and accepts her help gathering what they can salvage for the bayou wolves.

It's a few hours later when things have settled and their trusty bonfires are set up when Josh approaches Cora with the offer of a beer. He overheard some things earlier, and he can recognize hiding your pain. He did it for years as a lonely gay man and then as a lonely gay vampire.

Aiden's getting Derek to laugh, so Josh thought maybe he'd crack this nut. )

Hey, thanks for chipping in today. I'm Josh. I was also captured along with your brother. Fellow POW here.

Cora. You're Aiden's husband, right?

[Which automatically earns him some points, because Cora likes Aiden, but then again, she likes most of the wolves in the bayou.]

I'm glad everyone got out of there okay.

Lawfully wedded. Just two irregular Romeo's who fell in love on different sides of the Mikaelson family war.

( And they made it through. )

You and me both. Left it a bit of a blood bath, but if you ask me, they were asking for it. ( He shrugs, taking a seat next to her. ) So - I heard you might be sticking around here for a bit.

[She nods.]

I wasn't very useful where I was, and I can help here. And maybe make sure that my brother doesn't get kidnapped for the third time in six months.

That's a lot of kidnapping. Wish I couldn't relate, but I was a Mikaelson pawn before it was cool to be one.

( Forever in the war between Marcel and Klaus. )

Can I ask why you weren't useful? You seem pretty useful to me.

[She glances over her shoulder, making sure that Derek isn't within earshot before she shrugs.]

You can't really help someone who doesn't want your help. Or doesn't even want ...

[You, is how that sentence is supposed to end, but she trails off because that is in danger of making her a little too vulnerable.]

( While he hasn't been there recently, thank you to a long-lasting marriage, he has been there when he was human. You're not a club kid vampire without friends with addiction issues. And hearts you can't capture. )

You're right. For the record. And sometimes, the best thing you can do is remove yourself from the situation. ( He tips his beer. ) Unless you want to fight. Unless they're worth fighting for.

[She considers because she's not sure how to fight Stiles for Stiles. She's not sure if she's misreading everything and his feelings are not the same as her feelings.]

Maybe? But they've been running so hot and cold that I'm not sure what they actually want. But they've been going through a lot. So ... I don't know. They seem to want space, so I might as well give it to them.

Then, you're doing the right thing. It sounds like. Give them what they want and maybe that's what they need.

( Cora has a really good head on her shoulders, or it seems like it to Josh. )

If you do want to tell me more, though, I could give better, more specific advice. Promise, I'll only help. No judging.

[She glances over her shoulder again to make sure Derek's still not in listening distance, and ... this is something that Josh's unique situation could help her understand.]

He just became a vampire. And he's not ... dealing with it well. Not in a ripper sense, necessarily but he is having control issues and trouble with everything being heightened. I was trying to help, but he took off. No note, no nothing, he was just gone and he's not responding to anyone reaching out to him unless bad stuff is happening.

So, one thing you know. It's not you. It's him. That goes a long way. As someone who had no choice in the matter, and I was compelled on top of it as a sort of double agent, I couldn't control my own actions either. And I'd just lost my best friend who chose to kill me. But, Klaus liked loyalty. ( He presses his lips together, having gone a little too far into his own rabbit hole. ) What I'm saying, when not making it about myself, is that becoming a vampire is a big transition. Can I ask what he felt about vampires beforehand? Like, did he know about us?

He's from Beacon Hills. He's been embroiled in the supernatural since he was sixteen.

[So while he may not have objectively known about vampires, she's sure he had his theories.]

But he also made the decision to transition so fast, at least from what I heard. It was like ... he could either be dead or not dead, and he didn't want to be dead. But I don't think he's dealing with the fact that he did die.

[And that's important. It's part of being a vampire, whether it feels like it or not.]

Okay. And you can't force him or speed up the process. But, if I can give any unsolicited advice. Let him have that space. Maybe he'll come to his senses, maybe he needs more than time. Only way you'll know is to live your own life. Being here, helping the Bayou wolves. That's a pretty good life.

( And life choice. )

[She nods, because that's what she felt too. It's good to have someone validate her instincts.]

I just want him to be okay. And I know I have no control over that, but ... I do.

It means you care. Don't lose that. Push it underneath, sure. Keep moving. But, don't lose it.

( Good advice? )

[It'll work for a Hale, at least. She nods, before offering a small smile.]

Thanks.

[She doesn't talk about her feelings a lot, but Josh makes it easy.]

someone is on your side

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