Cora was left reeling in the wake of every word Derek said. If there was an easy place to start, Cora would have taken that route in a heartbeat, but the most she could do at first was stand there with her hands balled into fists. She could feel her claws extending and digging into her palms until the skin broke, and the only tell she gave to her pain was a small sneer. The sting cut through the clutter in her head, and kept her locked firmly in place, even if all she wanted to do was turn tail and run.
Even if she did, where the fuck could she go?
"Would you stop apologizing? All you do is fucking apologize, Derek. I don't want your damn apologies, I want my brother! But you're right. I guess I didn't have to deal. I just had to wake up one day to a family full of ghosts. The only difference between you and Laura is that if I actually tried to touch you, I wouldn't pass right through." Cora's voice pitched, and the sound of her despair breaking through twisted her face into something pained and angry.
"I know this is all wrong. I am in the middle and I don't know how to get out. So if you want to get angry, just-... just GET ANGRY. If you want me out of the middle, show me how. Tell me to stop talking to him or something. Stop acting like this," She motioned to him as she shook her head, "is it. Do you think I'm stupid? You think that I don't know that my uncle isn't my uncle anymore? None of us are the same, but it's like I forget sometimes. That night when I went to him, I wasn't bullshitting you. It was all instinct. This isn't okay. If you don't want to bury me, stop treating me like I'm 'stuck' with you! Why would you even say something like that to me?! I didn't come back for this! I didn't fight like Hell to make it here just in time to watch you cave in on yourself! This doesn't work one way. I can't lose you either. I just got here and you're-" her breath shuddered against her will, and she didn't dare blink. She couldn't let those tears fall. She was almost too scared to speak. "You're all I have, Derek." She finally croaked as she shook her head. If Derek was looking for disappointment in her voice, he wouldn't find any. She was nothing but afraid, and for the sake of her own sanity, she couldn't believe a word he said, even if she could hear that he believed every word of it. In a way, that was so much worse than anything else.