Hanna's office in Baltimore, Sunday

[sharp_as_knives]

After returning home and unpacking, then having a lovely dinner, a good night's sleep, and an equally good breakfast, Hanna was ready to get back to normal (for her) life. Which started with her Sunday patient.

She opened the office, set out water for Mr. Hale, and sat down to do some paperwork until he arrived.


[OOC: NFB, open for phone calls and the one who really needs therapy!]

Comments

[justlurkinghere]

"Apparently." And then Derek killed him for it.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Were you close to your uncle? Before or after the fire?"

[justlurkinghere]

"He was closer to Laura and my age than our mother's," Derek said with a shrug. "After the fire, he didn't wake up. His eyes were open, but nothing was there."

[sharp_as_knives]

"What changed?" Hanna asked. "He came back to himself?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I guess. He only contacted Laura to kill her."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Is this something you think he would have done before the fire, before his catatonia?" Hanna asked. "Or was he no longer the uncle you remembered?"

[justlurkinghere]

"The uncle I knew wasn't a murderer." But then, Derek was a terrible judge of character. "We're predators, we don't have to be killers."

[sharp_as_knives]

"What do you think changed?"

[justlurkinghere]

"It doesn't matter. He was dangerous," Derek said, baring his teeth unconsciously. "He needed to be stopped."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Because he killed your sister? Or do you object to the others he killed as well?" Hanna watched him. "Did you think he might kill others?"

Was this revenge, morality, or prevention, Derek?

[justlurkinghere]

Derek inhaled sharply, turning away to pace. "Because he killed Laura and because he tried to make me kill an idiot teenager and he wouldn't have stopped. He killed everyone involved in the fire and still went after innocent people."

Well. As innocent as an Argent could be.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hanna nodded. "And so you stopped him." She knew that much; he'd have a different sort of guilt if he hadn't. "What happened?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I stopped him," Derek replied, looking even more predatory than before. "And took back what he stole from my sister."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Those abilities he killed your sister for; you killed him and got them yourself?" There was no judgement in her tone, just the need for clarification.

[justlurkinghere]

"Yes." It was totally normal. And not making him act creepy at all.

[sharp_as_knives]

Creepy was relative, Derek.

"Do you feel guilty that you gained something by his death?"

[justlurkinghere]

Derek frowned, thinking that one over. "Only that it had to happen. That Laura died for it."

[sharp_as_knives]

Something you didn't feel guilty for, Derek! This was progress!

Hanna nodded. "Does it ease the pain at all, to know that you killed the person who killed her?"

[justlurkinghere]

"No." Because now he had no family at all!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Do you mourn your uncle as well? For the person and the family he was?"

[justlurkinghere]

"Yeah." And now he had to go cut him in half to make sure he couldn't come back to life.

[sharp_as_knives]

Did you need help with that, Derek? Hanna had experience.

"Tell me about him. Tell me about Laura," she prompted.

[justlurkinghere]

At that, Derek took a seat so he could look at his hands rather than respond right away. "It was just Laura and I for six years. Peter wasn't waking up and nothing seemed safe, so we drove until we got to New York."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Quite a drive. You must have gotten to know each other rather well."

[justlurkinghere]

"I guess..." There was was also the raw wound of losing a pack between them.