Cordelia shook her head, fiercely blinking back her tears, but despite her attempts to pull herself together her voice soon betrayed her “we needed you. I needed you.” The witch didn’t blame him, of course she didn’t and there had been a period in her grieving that she had been mad, but not mad at him. Instead she was furious at the injustice of it all. “I needed you” she repeated breathlessly.
She had to concentrate to contain her sobs as they threatened to urge from her lungs, the weight of the emotion having weighed down upon her entirely as she fought to trust whether or not she could believe that this was real.
“I don’t believe that. You weren’t supposed to die. I can’t believe that.” Cordelia inhaled a stuttering breath before releasing sharply. “You weren’t supposed to leave us, to leave our daughters without their father. That’s what I don’t understand, what i’ll never understand.” Vengeance had always been a prominent desire for the witch and she wasn’t proud of it, but she had intended to use her brothers connections to her advantage. She wanted those responsible dead and she would stop at nothing, to ensure that she got her wish.
For now though, instinct took over as Grayson stepped closer and as he reached for her hand, muscle memory encouraged for her to reach for him. Even if this wasn’t real, to feel his hand against hers for even a few more minutes was everything that she desperately craved. As the warmth of his digits enclosed around her own, a stuttering breath left her lungs and through her teary emerald hues, she met his gaze, allowing him to guide her back to her feet.
For a moment, she couldn’t find the words. Instead she just stared at him, on the verge of another sob breaking before finally, she whimpered “I have some idea” and her free hand rose shakily to reach for his cheek, gasping as her digits caressed his features “I need this to be true.”
He let her say her piece, knowing that it was something that she needed to get out, unsure if she’d ever said the words out loud before. His wife was incredibly independent, and even throughout their relationship she’d always been so fearless and tackled anything that came their way, it was one of the things that he admired most about her, but it was also something that made him know in his final moments that whatever happened to him, their daughters would have their mother and even if that wasn’t the same, he knew they would be okay.
“Corey what happened to me-- it wasn’t about us. It was about seeking power and taking it, and if you and the girls didn’t leave they would have done the same thing to the three of you because they wanted control.” He didn’t know how to explain it further, but he could see the anger and rage that was built up underneath her warm green eyes and he just shook his head. “I thought I could fight them off that night, I thought if I just got you away I would see you again, but their reinforcements came from nowhere and they surrounded me-- I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep my promise to you,” reliving his death was painful but not as painful as the anguish that he saw on Corey’s face. He’d never wanted to be the cause of her pain and yet he could see now that the pain she’d felt in the past few years was all because of him.
He couldn’t help the tear that slid down his cheek when he felt Corey’s palm make contact with his skin, leaning into her hand and holding on to her free one tightly, like he didn’t want to risk letting go. Grayson stood there and brought her hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on it as his eyes found their way back to Corey’s. “There’ve been so many times on the other side I felt like I was close to you - I didn’t get to see you but I could feel you and it was a specific kind of torture knowing that you were close but I couldn’t talk to you or hold you-- this is real, Corey... it’s me.”