spamalot } { crossed wires

[vampireboulevard]

Moving clear across the country so that her fiance could join another pack to get away from his crazy dad is not exactly what Caroline Forbes had planned on doing with her life at this particular age, but when it comes to things like fiance (mostly that fiance being Tyler) and getting Tyler away from his crazy dad she's willing to make little changes in order to benefit the good of all. It also helped that Elena and Matt were already on this coast to make the transition a little easier.

(It was five hours to Palo Alto. Five hours driving was still better than all the coordination it takes for a five hour plane ride.)

Still, once she actually arrived in Beacon Hills, she's willing to admit that she may have prejudged this town a little harshly. It's actually more than a little adorable. It's got a Mystic Falls vibe all it's own, but lighter, which I guess is what happens when your mayor isn't a psychopathic alpha werewolf trying to make your life miserable. Talia Hale? A plus alpha from what Caroline could tell - which, she could tell a lot, if just knowing Cora even as little as she does is anything to go off of - and she has a feeling they're going to be very happy here. The TV station even approved her transfer to the local syndicate, so as soon as they find an apartment, she's pretty much set.

Which is what she, Elena and Matt (poor, poor Matt) are doing while Tyler is doing his alpha bonding with Talia and getting to know the pack as a whole. It's been a few days of meetings up at the Hale house, and him coming back to the hotel seeming so much happier than she's seen him in a long time, and that? That is worth every inconvenience, every hiccup, every ounce of homesickness because they fought for this for so long, and now they finally have it.

(This is probably the only universe in existence where Caroline Forbes would actually be grateful for Klaus Mikaelson. Whadaya know?)

She's coming out of one of the buildings, finishing up the details with the realtor, when she spots Tyler coming up the sidewalk and grins. Once they part ways, she's skipping over to him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and pulling him in close. "I love this town."

Comments

[99werewolfproblems]

It was a good thing that the Stilinskis weren't at the house when Tyler arrived to talk to Talia, because that would have been bad. Not that narration doesn't believe that it will be bad enough with they do run into each other later, but for now, all things are good in Tyler Lockwood's life.

Free from his father, from the pack, on a new coast within hours of both his best friends and the love of his life at his side and planning on marrying him. What more did he need?

Oh, a job. Well, that'll come.

Seeing Caroline's smile, though, made him grin and he twirled her as she skipped into his arms, then kissed her. "I told you that you would."

[vampireboulevard]

She laughs a bit as she's spun around, leaning into the kiss happily as she does. Matt and Elena were not far behind her, fussing over the baby as they do, but for right now, as far as Caroline's concerned, the only people left in the world are her and Tyler. She slides her fingers through his hair as she's set back down on her heels, before turning slightly to show him some of the listings they've been looking at.

"You'll have to go have a look at them before we make an official decision, but I think I've narrowed it down to my top five. We can talk them over at lunch."

[99werewolfproblems]

"I'm assuming you took photos of them so I can see what they look like?" His Care was nothing but thorough. He kept her nice and close, his smile easy and free these days as he looked at the listings.

"I think she took video," Matt said, walking over. "Things go well today?"

"Yeah. I actually got to spend time at the main house. Not that Peter's isn't a tiny mansion in the forest, but just damn. And I thought my house was big."

[vampireboulevard]

Caroline gives Matt a teasing look at that, before nodding. "Video. And pictures. I wanted to be thorough."

"Thorough is your middle name." Elena teases right back, before tipping her head towards Tyler. She's taking a brief pause in making faces at the baby strapped to her husband's chest. This is an important question. "Do you think it'll be a good fit? You know, pack wise?"

[99werewolfproblems]

Tyler just laughed and kissed Caroline's cheek at that, then looked at Elena. "Yeah, I think it really is. It's completely different than home. I don't think I've felt more in a family than I did with my own flesh and blood."

[vampireboulevard]

Elena smiles a bit at that and nods. "Good. You deserve it." Not that any of them are perfect, but after everything Tyler's been through with his dad, he deserves a good family that's going to take care of him. Especially if it means him and Caroline being more close by.

"Now all we have to do is convince Bonnie to move to California and it'll be perfect," Caroline says with a grin. "All five of us together, just like it's supposed to be."

[99werewolfproblems]

"You'd have to find a way to separate her from her family. You know how close they are. Her gram is her world." Then again, Bonnie's grandmother was really everyone's grandmother, and they all loved her.

Tyler grinned, then looked over at a bar and grill nearby. "Should we go get something to eat? I'm starving, and maybe they're looking for a waiter."

[vampireboulevard]

"Yes, please," Caroline says with a nod as she takes his hand to lead the way over to the grill. She walks a few feet before turning back to face him. "I'm pretty sure Matt wants to put my beautiful niece down and take a break for a bit."

Poor Matt has been carrying her all day. Not that she's thinks that he minds considering how smitten he is with her, but his back might not be so fond.

[99werewolfproblems]

"Well, if Matt can't carry around a nine pound baby all day, I'll take a turn," Tyler teased. "Getting fat and lazy in your married life, buddy."

Matt gave his friend a look. "Just remember that when you two start having kids, Ty. I'm going to be laughing so hard."

[impetere]

And somewhere, in another part of Beacon Hills, walking to her brother's apartment from what could potentially be her and Lydia's new apartment, Cora Hale is completely oblivious to what has gone down between her ex-boyfriend-maybe-tentatively-friend Stiles Stilinski and her ex-friends-with-benefits-definitely-good-friend Tyler Lockwood. In some universes, it would probably be best if she is left oblivious to this information, but really, where's the fun in that?

In all honesty, she's feeling good about the way things are right now. She feels like she's really starting to settle and things are going to be okay here, so long as people don't start dying so Lydia actually starts losing her mind. As far as she knows, everything is pretty okay.

At least until her phone rings. She glances down at Tyler's name on the caller ID and her brow furrows. She figured he would probably be busy with Caroline. "Hey. How'd the apartment hunting go?"

[99werewolfproblems]

"Good, actually." He was relaxing at the hotel room at this point, and felt he needed to prewarn his ex-friends-with-benefits-definitely-good-friend-and-packmate Cora about that had happened.

Sorry, we're not keeping you in the dark, Cora. You have to join them.

"I've got a question for you though, if you're not busy."

[impetere]

And here she thought they were friends. She's going to completely reevaluate her earlier assessment of their relationship.

She slows to a stop on the sidewalk, her stomach knotting a bit, almost as though she knows what's going to get asked before it even happens. "Uh - nope. I'm good." She slides one hand into her pocket, just so that it has something to do. "What's up?"

[99werewolfproblems]

He sat up on the bed. No, no real way to put this delicately. "So I met Stiles today in town."

[impetere]

Oh.

Oh crap.

There are a million different ways that could have gone, and each one of them is currently playing them out slowly in the back of her mind as she tries to figure out how she's supposed to react to this. She doesn't say anything for a long time, until she finally exhales with a:

"And I'm guessing this isn't a 'wow, you have an excellent choice in mate' call."

[99werewolfproblems]

Tyler wrinkled his nose. "No, not really. But he does have a surprisingly strong right hook for a human."

[impetere]

Her eyes fly open at that. "He did what?" Because that wasn't very Stiles like. At all. Even with his shorter fuse lately, he hadn't been violent. Especially without a good reason, but she can't imagine that Tyler gave him one. Not knowing who he was to Cora.

[99werewolfproblems]

"Yeah. Apparently, he was under the assumption that we were still together, moving in together and then saw me and Caroline kissing and had a very strong urge to defend your honor."

[fadingspark]

By the time they had gotten back to the Hale house, Stiles' hand had started to get puffy and bruised. While Dina went off to play with the other children in the living room, Stiles had sat in the kitchen with an ice pack and his swirling emotional guilt as his father explained to Talia what had happened.

Yeah, that had not been one of the best choices he had made lately. Not that really, any of his choices had been good.

Not really wanting to talk about it, Stiles had gone up to his room after John and Isaac tagged off for the protective detail. He laid down in the bed, staring up at the ceiling while confused thoughts played through his head.

Tyler Lockwood was a werewolf. He was engaged to Caroline. Not Cora. In fact, to be engaged, that meant that he and Cora hadn't been together for awhile now. Which meant that it was just her and Lydia getting an apartment together. Getting an apartment meant staying in Beacon Hills because leases had terms. What had happened to stop her from being with Tyler? Was she with someone else? Was she with Lydia... no, pretty sure Cora was still straight. But there was that talk about experimenting in college...

No, he was getting off track on his own thoughts. He was missing pieces of the puzzle here, now seeing the whole board. Which, in all honesty, was his fault. He had let himself lose touch with everyone, so the fact he was on the edge looking in at a life he used to share was his doing. Now that he had the chance to come back, it felt so hard sometimes to rejoin the group. He was missing pieces of their lives to know the stories they joked about at the dinner tables. He had nothing to contribute beyond a few stories of him and Dina, so he mostly sat there quietly at dinner and listened.

It wasn't the same though. He knew it wasn't, and that alone just made it harder to figure out where to put his pawn back on the board.

He went to flex his hand, looking at it in the sunset light from the window. The bleeding had stopped, but it was going to scab over and possibly scar. Just another one to add to the pile.

[impetere]

Dinner with Derek and Liam had been a sufficient distraction, but that hasn't stopped the confusion and thoughts from swirling around in her head. She isn't entirely sure how she's supposed to handle this. She and Stiles need to figure out a starting point, and the only way they were going to do that is if she came clean.

Which, for the record, is a lot harder than it sounds.

Derek drops her off at the end of the night with a meaningful look that's probably something along the lines of you know what you have to do and yes, Derek, she's well aware of that fact, but it's the actual doing it that's the hard part. She comes in, says hi to her mom, and before she can get into a what is going on with you talk with her mother, she's heading upstairs to find Stiles.

She decides to not even bother with the subterfuge - he had to know that Tyler would tell her - and just leans in the doorway, fingers picking at the paint for a moment before she speaks. "Hey." It sounds awkward and strange and she's trying to not let Tyler's words about how Stiles still loves her get to her. "How's the hand?"

[fadingspark]

Of course she knew. Small towns made word travel fast. If it wasn't Tyler, it was her mother or his father. Someone warning her about what he had done. He huffed a bit though, flexing his hand under the icepack.

"Not the worst pain I've felt." It actually had felt good, in a way. Sure, the guy hadn't deserved it, but getting all the anger out like that...

He closed his eyes. No, he wasn't like that. He wasn't going to let himself enjoy that release. he would not turn into them.

[impetere]

She nods a bit at that, fingers picking at the paint on the door frame for a moment, before glancing back to him. She isn't really even sure how to start with the things she needs to say, but she won't cross the threshold until he gives her permission to. She's part of the reason his hand hurts and part of the problem in general and if he doesn't want to have this conversation, isn't ready to, then she's not going to force it on him.

"Can we talk?" The words are soft at first. She means really talk, and it still feels strange that she has to ask permission to talk to him when he was the one she used to tell everything to and now they didn't have that any more. "I ... I feel like I owe you a big explanation and it should have happened before now but ... " Now is when they're going to do it. "I don't need you to do anything. I just need you to hear it."

[fadingspark]

"If it's the whole 'I'm not dating Tyler anymore' memo, I've already gotten that one, thanks."

He wasn't ready. But he'd never be ready. It was a can of snakes inside of him ready to burst the moment he pulled the lid off, and they would not be able to get pushed back in once they went there.

"Don't really need to know the details." Or want to. He really did not want to know.

[impetere]

"I think you do."

She still doesn't move from the threshold of the door, the words threatening to burst and escape from her at a moment's notice because they need to be out there. They need to be said by both of them, and there's no way around it. It's the only way they're going to be able to move forward, whether it's back to each other like Derek seems to think they will, or just friends or into nothing at all.

They both need a little forward motion. They've been stuck in things for way too long.

"Because I was never with Tyler at all." Not in a way that really mattered.

[fadingspark]

Stiles' eyes popped open, confused a moment, and then they narrowed as he sat up. "What do you mean, you were never with him. I saw you at the weddings with him. Two weddings, a year and a half apart."

[impetere]

"People bring friends to weddings sometimes when they have no one else to go with. And I wanted him to spend time with my mom."

She crosses her arms in front of her chest, his reaction putting her on the defensive which is not how she wants to do this. She wants to just talk but that doesn't seem to be a card in her favor at the moment.

She takes a deep breath, before letting her arms drop, trying not to close herself off. "Can you just let me explain? Please?"