And the walls come tumbling down...

[cunningwolf]

"Talia!"

Many men will tell you that you knew the heart of a hero when it came to fire. Normal men would run away from it. Heroes would run into it.

But no one would ever call Peter Hale a hero. Yet into the fire he dove, recoiling back from flames as he tried to make his way through the house to find his sister. The screams from the tunnels threatened to deafen him, but he still kept his focus, trying to find her.

Talia had always taken care of her brother, even at his worst points. He refused to not give up on her now. We are all going to burn for this he had warned her, but as always, the stubbornness of the Hales kept her from seeing the reality of the situation until their world was ablaze.

One of the walls cracks and came at him, and he was barely able to duck out of the way in time. "Talia!" he screams, then coughed as his lungs started to remind him that they can only heal if he has actual oxygen going to them. He knew he had to leave, but he couldn't abandon his family.

"Help me!"

Peter's head snapped around as he heard the voice of his eleven year old niece. He pushed away from the wall, heading for the stairs and climbing up them as fast as he could, and then when her bedroom door wouldn't open, he smashed it in. And there was Cora, crouched into a corner and crying. He made his way over, kneeling down in front of her. "Cora, honey, focus on me. We need to get you out of here."

"I want mommy."

"I know. We'll find her outside." The floor under them shifted and Cora screamed. Peter stood up and looked at the window. If he opened it, the fire was be sucked into the room from the rush of oxygen. "Come on, we have to go."

He pulled the tiny werewolf into his arms and started back downstairs, using his own body to shield her from the fire. As they got to the bottom, one of the stairs broke and his foot went through it, sending him crashing to the ground and he felt his knee pop as he twisted to land on his back to keep Cora from being crushed.

"Cora, the front door is open. You need to run outside and hide. Hide from the hunters like I taught you, okay?"

Cora bit her lip, scared. "I'm scared."

"I know, but you go, and I'll find you. I always find you, don't I?" He could feel the fire starting to burn along his leg, trying to keep the pain off his face. "Ready? You hide, and I'll seek."

Nodding, Cora did as she was told and took off running for the woods. Peter focused his hearing to make sure she wasn't stopped by any of the Argents that may be lingering in the woods, and then he howled in pain as the rest of the staircase came down on top of him.

Comments

[impetere]

"I know."

She does. She gets that much. She moves a hand to the top of her head and takes a deep breath.

"Alright, just ... don't do anything stupid. I may have an idea." She turns and points to Cora. "Stay with your uncle."

Cora just nods in agreement, pulling her knees into her chest. Melissa nods in agreement before turning back to Peter.

"I'll be right back."

[cunningwolf]

Peter nods, and when she's gone, he finally whimpers in pain and curls back into the bed. "Don't worry, Cora... I'm not going to let anyone take you from me. I promise."

[impetere]

She's not really worried about that. She's worried about the whimper of pain he just gave. "You need to be careful. You're still healing."

[cunningwolf]

"I know... but I don't mind a little pain if we need to leave."

[impetere]

"That's not the point," she sighs, with a bit of a stubborn look he's probably seen on her mother. She doesn't even realize she's doing it, mostly because she can't see her own face. "If you make yourself worse than you can't protect me and I can't protect you. So you need to get better."

[cunningwolf]

He looked over at her, then reached up and put a hand gently along her cheek. No, he sees that, and is amuses him as much as it hurts his heart. "You're right. I'm sorry."

[impetere]

She leans into his hand a bit, sighing softly, before moving to curl into him again. Right now, they're all they have left. She's not going to let herself lose Peter, either, and if that means finding a way to keep him in the hospital so he can get better, then she'll do it.

[cunningwolf]

He shifted more to pull his leg back up on the bed, and then closed his eyes as the pain started to ebb for a bit. "Would you rather be in school right now, Cora?"

[impetere]

She's quiet for a moment, before shaking her head. "If I was, I'd be worrying about you the whole time." She'd rather be here, with him, where she can see he's okay. School doesn't really seem all that important, in the face of everything. Maybe she'll feel differently in a few weeks, but right now she just wants to be here, with her pack.

[cunningwolf]

"If I can get healed enough to get us out of here and into a hotel for now, you can worry less about me and we can focus on you for awhile, okay little wolf?"

[impetere]

She nods a bit against his shoulder. Sure. That's fine. But only once he's better. She doesn't really care about school or anything else as much as she probably should.

[cunningwolf]

Peter is a big fan of homeschooling. Not that he's thinking of that right now. He's going to stay quiet though, soaking up the affection from Cora as he waits for Melissa to return with her idea.

[impetere]

Which she does! She makes her way back into the room with a clipboard in her hand. "Okay, temporary plan. We admit her."

Because if she's a patient, then they can't really take her anywhere, can they?

[cunningwolf]

Peter's one visable eye cracks open. "Admit her to where and for what?"

[impetere]

"To the hospital," she begins and it's the for what that she's drawing a blank on. "Something simple but requiring observation. We'll list her as a Jane Doe, and that way she'll have a bed to sleep in, regular meals, and she won't have to worry about getting into trouble if she's found in your room." There's a beat. "So long as she stays in the room, at least."

Cora would probably just wind up in Peter's bed anyway, helping him heal, but not having to worry about getting into trouble in the hospital would be a plus.

[cunningwolf]

He looked between the two of them, then nodded. "That would be a good plan. Thank you, Melissa."

[impetere]

Cora glances between them as well, before turning back to Melissa again. "So I can stay?"

The nurse nods. "Yes, you can stay. I'll just have to work up some paperwork so that it looks like you're a patient." There's a beat. "And I may have to loop in the sheriff."

[cunningwolf]

"As long as it keeps her safe and with me, I don't mind the sheriff knowing." His hand runs along Cora's hair gently.

[impetere]

"Okay, then. I'll get him on the phone." Melissa takes a step back towards the door. "For right now, just try and keep her in the room, if you can. I'll handle this wing for the rest of the night, so you shouldn't have to worry."

[cunningwolf]

Peter looked at Melissa and nodded, his one eye showing her just how much this meant to him. "Thank you."

And he wasn't going to let Cora go, because if this worked, it would just make it easier for her to stay.

[impetere]

Melissa nods again, before taking her phone and making her way to the breakroom. Thankfully no one is around when she makes her way inside and she can collapse down onto the couch and call the sheriff, making a phone call that probably no one else should hear.

[cunningwolf]

Stilinski answers quickly, since he knew Melissa only called him when it was important, or Stiles had broken something.

"Hey Melissa. Something wrong?"

[impetere]

"Figuratively speaking, though this would probably count as wrong in a good way." She pauses again to make sure no one was coming in, before continuing. "I found Cora Hale."

[cunningwolf]

"The youngest of the missing Hales?" There was relief in his voice. "Where is she?"

[impetere]

"Here at the hospital," Melissa replies. "Apparently she's been here the whole time, just hiding from the staff. She was worried about being put into the foster system and so was Peter."