Work Text:
Yeah, you've got that something
I think you'll understand
When I'll feel that something
I wanna hold your hand
-The Beatles
Cora remembers hearing about a Hale Alpha while she was a teenager living in Brazil. How filled with hope she was until the crushing reality set in that if it was someone from her family, they would not recognize her now. They would call her the wrong name, they would call her Cordaro. She had never gotten the chance to tell her family that she was a girl. She hadn't learned what being transgender was until years after her family had died.
Cora had been in her tree house in the woods when the fire happened. She hadn't wanted to go to class that day. She was in middle school and the boys would tease her and the girls thought she had cooties. So she had planned to spend the entire school day in the tree house and then get home at the usual time so her mom wouldn't have to know. She had even gotten a fake note to hand in to the teacher the next day explaining her absence. But instead she had a nap in the tree house and woke up to the smell of fire and wolfsbane. She remembers hearing a woman laughing and saying that the Hale pack was dead. Cora had packed what she could from her tree house in to her school backpack, a blanket, some granola bars and her favourite book, and had ran. She ended up near a pack in southern Nevada who had taken her in out of respect for her mom.
When Cora had realized that she wasn't a boy, the pack made contact with a well known pack in Brazil led by a transgender Alpha and her genderfluid mate. The Alpha, Mar, and her mate, Sol, had taken to her right away helping her learn that it was okay to not be your assigned gender and that there was always treatment that she could go through to help her, even with her werewolf healing abilities. She picked the name Cora for the resembles to her sister's name and for the closeness of her parents original choice. It wasn't until her seventeenth year that she realized that the family she had been mourning wasn't all dead.
Her pack's emissary had learned of information of a True Alpha and how the beta had been originally part of the Hale pack in Beacon Hills. Cora knew this was not anyone from her part of the Hale pack and had asked for more information. The emissary found a name and an address.
She had flown in to California right away with Mar and Sol and they had driven her to Beacon Hills but had let her go up to her brother's loft by herself. They said that this was a time for brother and sister to come to know each other again and that they would listen in till they believed her safe and then they would go get a hotel for the night.
She had knocked on the door of his loft with her heart in her throat, fearing that her brother would be disgusted or ashamed of the woman she had become. Instead, Derek opened the door and froze when he got the scent of Hale and the image of a younger Laura look alike in front of him.
"Are you-? Are...?" He had tried to ask, while his throat clogged up and his eyes blurred with tears.
"I'm Cora, Cora Hale." She had whispered shyly back.
With that he stumbled in to her, hugging her much tighter than any human could take. She had grasped him back immediately and can still remember the sense of pack that had settled over her, stronger then she had felt since their parents were still alive. Eventually, Derek stepped back from her and wiped the tears of her and then his face.
"Hello Cora." He had said simply. He led her in to his loft and let her tell him all about where she had been and what she was doing now. They talked for hours all about the Nevada pack, her transition, her pack in Brazil, the horses she liked to take care of, and also her waking up in the tree house to find the house on fire. Similarly, Derek talked about Laura, their living in New York, and all about Kate Argent. Cora was quick to assure Derek that, just like Laura, she did not blame him for what a psychotic hunter did.
Two weeks later Cora flew back to Brazil to continue living with Mar and Sol, but this time with a promise to come visit Derek often and have him come to Brazil.
Cora finished high school in Brazil and with Mar's help they got a doctor and the pack emissary to work together to perform top surgery on her that her werewolf healing would accept. Waking up in the hospital afterwards with her brother in one chair and her Alpha in another by her bedside was the happiest she could remember ever being.
xxxx
She decides to go to University of California, San Francisco. Mostly because after so long in Brazil she thinks it may help her heal more to be in the state she was born in. It's not till she finds her brother helping her move in to her new, close to campus, apartment that she realizes that what will actually help her heal is having her biological family back.
She doesn't meet Derek's pack till she walks in to the LGBT center in UCSF on the first Tuesday of the semester to find a few people sitting around the welcoming desk. She's there to gather information on any transgender groups and is distracted by the bulletin board hanging in the corner by the door.
There is an Alpha werewolf and a female werewolf at the main desk and a stunningly beautiful red head on the phone that Cora can't help but keep glancing at as she reads and makes note of the events on the bulletin board. The two people at the main desk are talking about someone named Stiles who has already lectured two of their professors about the proper way to talk to someone who is genderfluid and wants to be referred to as they. From what Cora can gather there was a fair amount of arm waving and they had fallen down at least once while telling one of the professors off.
The red head hangs up the phone and quickly looks up at Cora before saying, "Have either of you two lovebirds even noticed that there is someone else in the room yet?"
She shakes her head at their wide eyed looks of surprise as they spot her standing by the events bulletin board. With the grace of a runway model she walks over to Cora.
"Hello," She says in a quiet voice that immediately captures all of Cora's attention. "Welcome to the LGBT center. I am the center's president, Lydia Martin. The lovebirds over there are Scott McCall and Izzy Lahey. Can I help you with anything?"
"Uh, I just wanted to see what events are coming up that I could take part in." Cora says feeling tongue-tied and awed at the stunningly gorgeous girl in front of her
"We have a handout for that at the desk, or we can put you down for the mailing list, or send you text alerts." Lydia replies smoothly. She steps back around the desk to find Cora the pamphlet, her skirt swaying slightly as she walks.
Cora has never felt like this before. She's broken out in a sweat and her heart is racing which she knows that the werewolves can hear, but she just can't control it, this girl is breathtaking.
Lydia goes over what events the center has coming up and then asks her if she wants to sign up for the newsletter and events reminders. Cora says yes without really realizing what she is agreeing to. Lydia asks her for her name with a smile that makes her stomach fill with butterflies as she responds.
"Oh! You're Derek's sister! Dude! I knew you smelt like wolf but this is so much better!" The guy from behind the welcoming desks exclaims.
He stands up and stretches out his hand. Cora shakes it firmly as he continues on, "We're so excited to meet you! Derek's been talking about you for so long, well as much as Derek talks about anyone, and now you get to become part of the pack too! If you want to that is. I am Scott McCall and this is Izzy Lahey. I am the pack Alpha and Izzy is my beta and girlfriend, Lydia Martin is our banshee. The rest of the pack you are supposed to meet at our usual pack Friday's movie night, right?"
She nods a little shyly.
"Don't let Scott scare you," Izzy says. "He's a giant teddy bear, but we are not all this ridiculously friendly."
"Hey! Friendliness is important! How else are we supposed to welcome new people in to the LGBT center?" Scott says as he pokes Izzy in the shoulder.
"Anyway, if we could finish filling out this form that would be great." Lydia says as she rolls her eyes at the other two. Cora gives Lydia the information needed, her email address, phone number and birthday. In less than a minute Lydia has it all imputed in the computer and has her signed up for emails and texts alerts about the center.
"Now, some guidelines for being a part of these events. We don't accept any kind of bullying, obviously and if someone or something is making you uncomfortable than you are urged to come talk to me or the vice president, Kira. We run on a two chance system. Two chances then you're out, no exceptions." Lydia says simply.
"Ya, last year they had to kick this kid, Matt out because he wouldn't stop saying asexuality is not a real thing." Izzy blurts out. "When Lydia told us that you should have seen how angry-"
"Thank you, for that great segue. Never are you allowed to out someone to someone else in this group unless specifically given permission. I can tell you right now that I am an asexual lesbian but no one else is allowed to share. Izzy, over there will be forgiven cause it's her and Scott's first week on the job and they already see you as pack more so than part of the center. But just because that person is out in the center doesn't mean they are in the rest of their life."
"I understand." Cora says.
"Great. Now tell me about yourself." Lydia says with a disarming smile.
Cora ends up spending a good portion of that afternoon talking to the three of them before she has to leave for her five o'clock class. She walks away with their numbers, a request that she come to the first LGBT center meeting, and a sense that this new pack may just be the best thing for her.
xxxx
The first Thursday of the semester is the first meeting of the LGBT center. It's mostly a reiteration of the rules Lydia already told her and a little bit about the major events that will take place. After the meeting is over Lydia waves her over to the group of people she standing with.
"Everybody this is Cora," she begins capturing everyone's attention quickly. "Cora, this is the pack. There's Kira, the vice president of the center and a kitsune. Then we have Scott and Izzy, who you've already met. Liam, Mason, and Malia. We have Stiles too but they're in another university, and of course your brother."
"Hello." Cora replies quietly.
"We're so happy to finally meet you!" Kira exclaims. "And of course that you are part of our LGBT club. I myself am asexual and a lesbian." She says this and her eyes flash over to Malia.
"I'm a lesbian too." Malia gives hesitantly.
"You don't need to tell me any of this if you don't want." Cora says, then regrets the way she spoke, she's not supposed to be scaring these people away.
"You are so much like Derek." Mason chuckles. "He said the exact same thing when he met us for the first time too. But we are a pack and our sexualities and gender identities are who we are, and a lot of us are very proud of who we are and want to scream it at everyone, like Stiles who you'll probably meet later in the year."
The group keeps going and she finds out that Scott is a transman, Izzy is transfeminine, Liam is demisexual, and Mason is gay. No one asks her what her sexuality or gender identity is. Cora assumes because of the scents she put out when she first met Lydia that at least Scott and Izzy know. Five minutes later Mason, Liam, Malia, and Izzy are off to class while Scott and Kira are cleaning up the room.
Cora grabs her bag from the ground and turns to say goodbye when suddenly Lydia is at her side.
"I know that you are uncomfortable in a large group so I thought maybe you could get to know me first and then I could help you relax when we do stuff with the pack." She says quiet enough so that the others won't hear.
"Sure." Cora replies cautiously, unsure whether or not Lydia means this to be as something more than just packmates.
Lydia leads her to the tea shop on campus and there they buy a peppermint tea for Lydia and a raspberry chai for Cora. They find the comfiest couches in the back and sit on a loveseat facing each other.
"So you're doing a general year to figure out what your major should be?" Lydia asks.
"Ya, I don't know what I want to study. I want to do gender studies but I don't know what to do with that degree so I might minor in it and do biology. At Mar and Sol's, I had horses that I took care of, and I wouldn't mind owning a bunch later on or taking care of them in some way." Cora says as she relaxes in to her seat.
"Mar and Sol are the Alpha and her mate you grew up with?"
"Yes, Mar is my Alpha and Sol is her mate. Mar is a transwoman and Sol is genderfluid so they really helped me with my own transition." Cora shifts on the couch at the stench of confusion and intrigue that comes off Lydia.
"Your transition?" Lydia implores.
"I'm a transwoman." Cora says as though it is obvious.
"Oh." Lydia's scent changes so quickly that Cora can't get more than a hint of slight shock, confusion, and surprise.
"Huh, it's been a while since anyone has surprised me with their gender identity. Not that it's a bad thing or anything! It's just I don't get surprised, I normally know everything. Being a banshee I can sense so much that it just doesn't happen. I don't do surprise. And now I'm rambling like a halfwit. Sorry." Lydia blushes, as she embarrassedly fiddles with her hands.
"It's okay. It's kind of great that you think I'm biologically a girl." Cora replies with a smile and a blush of her own.
"I may have been jumping the gun a bit when I asked you here," Lydia starts. "I don't get flustered around people, in a romantic sense. But you walked in and suddenly I couldn't think right. That's why it took me so long to come talk to you when you walked in to the center."
"I felt the same about you." Cora says. "I couldn't stop looking at you. You are so gorgeous and so sexy."
"Aw, that's where we may have a problem though. I like you but I'm asexual. I don't want to have sex. Normally people don't understand that for long." Lydia takes a sip of her tea, appearing to be completely fine except for the slight bitter scent of hurt radiating off of her.
"I don't expect sex with you. I want to hold your hand." Cora fidgets embarrassed."I don't know where I fall in the sexual attraction spectrum. I'm probably gray-asexual."
"That could work." Lydia says with a smile.
"And just cause you are sexy doesn't mean that's any indication of you wanting sex. You are so much more than just gorgeous." Cora says like it's obvious.
"You are just adorable, aren't you? Best way to get me to like you is to compliment my brain." Lydia half jokes.
Cora smiles and holds her palm up. "Oh wise, brilliant, genius Lydia, can I have the pleasure of holding your hand?"
Yes." Lydia replies with a grin as she takes Cora's hand.