"Kira, this is ridiculous." Malia insisted, following the overly excited thunder kitsune into the large Davenford mall.
"Come on, Malia. I know you haven't celebrated Christmas for five years, but you need to get into the spirit! After all, Christmas only comes once a year."
"I hope you know that I've spent the last five years trying to survive. I wasn't exactly able to go caroling." The werecoyote snorted, gazing up at the large strands of garland and lights above her head.
"Besides, we need to find presents for Scott, Lydia..."
Kira's voice faded from Malia's ears when she saw the large signs outside of the Macy's encouraging people to help buy and wrap presents for a toy drive of sorts.
"Hey, Kira?" She questioned, grabbing her attention. "What's this?"
"Oh. Macy's does that every year. They give Christmas presents to children who normally wouldn't get presents. My mom used to bring me to the store and we would pick out toys and donate them. We haven't done that in awhile though."
Malia stared intently at the posters, focusing on the girl, who had to be five or six, cradling a baby doll in her arms. One almost identical to the one her little sister would carry around everywhere.
"I think we should help." Kira snapped her out of her thoughts. "That's the only reason some of the kids I used to babysit got presents."
"That sounds like a great idea." Malia smiled before pulling her phone out of her pocket and sending a text to her dad. "Just have to tell him we might be in Davenford for awhile longer." She pocketed the device, and as soon as she did, the black haired teen grabbed her arm, and raced towards the Best Buy.
"Scott's been looking for a new TV." Kira insisted, looking at the large flat screens aligning the wall, trying to find the best one for the true Alpha. "He's been so stressed lately."
Malia however, was more interested in the laptops. Her own boyfriend, Stiles, was the head researcher in the pack besides Lydia, and with his computer on the fritz, he had been using his phone lately. The internet was fine, but he couldn't focus for long on the small screen due to his short attention span.
"Thinking about getting Stiles a computer?" Kira questioned, peering over her shoulder, smiling widely.
"Yeah. Even though he can fix Roscoe, I'm not so sure about a computer. How expensive is this?" She questioned, turning over the small tag attached to it.
"It's a doorbuster right now. Looks like we picked the right Best Buy." Kira insisted, reading the label. "Yep, you're saving about two hundred dollars with this model. It's only a hundred ninety five right now."
"In that case, I think I'm gonna get this. My dad will understand if I use his credit card."
"Are you sure?"
"If anything, I'll pay it off." The werecoyote insisted, walking over to the register to talk to the male employee at the register.
••••••••••••
"So what next?" Malia grinned, finally a small amount of the holiday spirit, before turning to the stressed kitsune. "You OK?"
"Yeah, I just don't know what to get Scott. I realized the TV will have a monthly payment, and his mom can't afford that. He's not into video games that much, he has lacrosse equipment... What do you get the person who has everything?"
"Maybe get him something that has a certain memory attached to it, so it's not just a object. It's sentimental."
"Something sentimental... I don't know much about Scott's past, he doesn't like talking about it." Kira admitted, leading the brown haired teen to smirk, pulling out her phone.
"Guess it's a good thing I'm dating his best friend."
The werecoyote texted the quick message to her boyfriend, allowing the kitsune to take her to the jewelry section of the JCPenny's, which made Maila roll her eyes while Kira fawned over every little piece.
Malia was able to snag a key ring and sparkly phone case for Kira while she wasn't looking before her eyes caught on the perfect thing for Lydia.
A small copper locket that had the words imprinted on it "I'll always love you."
While Stiles was still possessed, Lydia's boyfriend, Aiden, was killed by the Oni. She was mostly recovered now, but she could barley bring him up without the banshee's eyes filling with tears.
Not to mention, Malia had been told about the strawberry blonde's first love, Jackson Whittemore. He had lived in London for the past two years now. A rich boy who had received the bite from Derek, but because of his twisted life, became a kanima instead of a werewolf like it had been intended. After he had been defeated, he became part kanima, part werewolf, and gave updates on the supernatural to the pack from his home in Europe.
Both good options for the locket.
She gently pulled it from the necklace rack, and checked out while Kira was deciding between something for Lydia and most likely her mom.
Her stuff for both the girls in the pack were secure in her bag before Kira saw, checking out with a pair of snowflake earrings and a pink heart necklace.
•••••••••••••••
"Man, I'm starving. I could eat six deer right about now." Malia insisted while her stomach growled loudly.
"Go find some lunch." Kira insisted, glancing at the large array of stores. "I'm gonna look for donations and something for Scott. Text me when you find something."
The werecoyote nodded, turning her head towards the fast food places as the kitsune walked away.
She walked through the halls of the mall, her nose leading her to the food near the entrance, when she passed by all the kids in line to see Santa Claus outside of Macy's.
While she had grown out of it when she was trapped as a werecoyote, she remembered coming here every year with her sister and mom to see Santa, and her young self thought it was so crazy that he had time to come ask her what she wanted for Christmas.
She smiled at the fond memory before her will for food became too strong and she had to follow it.
Twenty minutes later, she decided on pizza and texted Kira, before getting in line. It seemed like two seconds when the kitsune joined her in line, holding two large Target bags.
"Did you find something for Scott?" Malia questioned, looking at the bags, trying to peer through them.
"Yep. Thanks for texting Stiles. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found anything otherwise."
"No problem." The werecoyote smiled as the line diminished, and she ordered the pizza.
The two girls sat down at one of the tables with their lunch, and went over their lists.
"Alright, I got everyone except my dad." Kira took a piece of pizza, and bit into it.
"You're off better then me." Malia chuckled, biting off half the pizza in one bite. "I don't know what to get Derek, Scott or my dad."
"Trust me, Derek and Scott were the hardest ones to find gifts for."
"What does Derek even like? I'm his cousin, and I don't even know."
"I think it's easier to name what he doesn't like, cause I swear, he is so cranky all the time." Kira laughed, sipping her Coke.
"What did you get him?"
"I got him a new DVD player and some movies. You know he still makes payments on that TV. His cable sucks and his DVD player barley works."
"Yep, you win for best gift giver." Malia sighed, running a finger through the condensation on the table from her cup.
"Hey, you knew EXACTLY what to get Lydia and Stiles. It takes me at least two months to figure out all this stuff."
A lightbulb went off in Malia's head as she realized what to get the last three people on her list.
"I know what I'm getting them now!"
"Tell me!" The thunder kitsune begged with wide eyes.
"I'm gonna go back to the Best Buy and get my dad a new phone. His is from like two thousand six, and I'm surprised it still works. I'm gonna get a candle for Derek. He needs to calm down, and his loft won't smell terrible now."
"I know. It smells like sweaty boys." Kira stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Get something strong, like cinnamon or apples."
"Will do." Malia chuckled, scarfing down another piece of pizza. "And for Scott, well...it's a surprise."
"What is it?" Kira asked, trying to peer at Malia's phone screen, but she titled the screen towards her and smirked.
"Now that is a secret."
•••••••••••
A hour later, the two girls were behind the Macy's counter, dressed as "Santa's Helpers" and wrapping toys as nicely as possible.
"How do I get this tape off my hands?" Malia questioned, in the middle of wrapping a Elsa barbie.
Kira stopped wrapping the ten pack of Hot Wheels to pull it off and put it into the trashcan. "Fold the paper at the top and bottom before the sides. That may help. Also make sure your paper is big enough."
"Got it." Malia smiled gratefully, wrapping the barbie slowly and carefully.
As soon as she finished, however, the woman who was in charge of the toy drive came over to them with a stressed face.
"I know you two are busy, but Santa's number one elf went home sick, and we need help keeping the line in order. Would one of you girls be willing to go help with that instead?"
"Sure." Malia smiled, walking out from behind the counter. "I can do that."
"Great." The woman smiled widely. "Follow me, you have to wear a different costume, and luckily this morning's elf was also a teenager around your age. It was a boy though. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, it's fine." Malia insisted, before looking at the...interesting costume.
It was a pair of red shoes with bells on them, green and red striped tights, a red pair of shorts with bells on the ends, a long sleeved shirt that read "Santa's number one helper" on it and looked like one of those Christmas sweaters that are uncomfortable, scratchy and squeezed your neck but you had to wear it cause your grandma got it for you and a hat with a large bell on the end.
'Okay, screw interesting.' Malia thought to herself. 'This is just absolutely ugly, and I'd wear pretty much anything.' But she wasn't about to say that because despite being a honest person and being a coyote for five years, she knew that someone had worked on this for awhile, and it was to help people. That was more important then anything.
The woman left and Malia got dressed, put back on her fake elf ears, and exited, going straight to where "Santa" was being crowded by what looked like hundreds of little kids and parents, ranging from newborns to nine year olds.
"Alright!" Malia yelled, grabbing even Santa's attention. "I need everyone to form a straight line behind the red ribbon so Santa has time to talk to everyone." She walked over, ushering Santa to the chair before looping the ribbon around the gold stands.
Ten minutes later, she was able to let people in without everyone freaking out, and whether that was cause of the authority she had shown or if everyone just got their priorities straight, she didn't know.
She felt a tug on her shorts, which made her look down at a girl who had to be at most a year old with tears in her eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong, sweetheart?" She asked, kneeling down to her level and placing her hand softly on her shoulder.
"M-my dada gone." The girl started sobbing in her arms, and the werecoyote was slightly confused on what to do, but hugged her back.
"It'll be okay. We'll go find him, alright? Now, what's your name?"
"M-mia."
"Come with me, Mia." Malia insisted, holding her hand and leading her away from Santa when a male around her age, but probably older, came up to them, a smiling lighting up her face the little girl's face as she broke away.
"Dada!" She squealed, running into his arms.
"Oh thank god!" He insisted, hugging his daughter, kissing the side of her head. "I'm so glad you're OK."
"Wove you."
"Love you too." He picked her up before smiling widely at Malia. "Thank you so much for finding her. I thought I had lost her."
"No problem." Malia asked, smiling at the pair. "You seem inseparable."
"Yeah, I adopted her a few months ago, and since I work at home, we spend a lot of time together." He smiled, before putting her on the ground, wrapping his hand around hers, starting to lead her out of the Macy's. "Let's go get ice cream before going home."
"Yay!"
"You have a great Christmas, Mia and.." Malia trailed off, not knowing the older male's name.
"Danny."
"Merry Christmas to you as well, Danny." Malia returned to her post as the father and daughter left the Macy's building.
•••••••••••••••
"Hey, why aren't you inside?" Malia heard her boyfriend ask when he walked behind her in the chilly weather. "We're about to do Chubby Bunny."
"One, Chubby Bunny is stupid." Malia chuckled, turning around and seeing Stiles dramatically gasping with a hand on his chest.
Malia, however, quickly became serious and slightly saddened at having to admit what was going on. "And two, it just doesn't feel right celebrating for the first time without my mom and sister. You know?"
"Yeah, I do." Stiles sighed, wrapping a arm around her shoulder, looking up at the night sky. "We lost my mom right after I had turned ten. She always was so crazy about making every little detail perfect for Christmas." He chuckled softly while continuing. "My dad tried, but my mom had the eye for design and decoration. Our first Christmas without her, I had woken up to see a present that was for me from my mom that she had planned to get me that year."
"What was it?"
"A mini baseball bat and a note. It said that since I was growing up every day, I would need it to protect myself. After that, we took a small wreath with a red bell attached to it and visited her for the first time since she had died." Stiles wiped a tear off his cheek before smiling at her. "So yeah, I understand why you aren't in a celebrating mood."
Malia sighed, laying her head on his shoulder, both of them looking at the sky which was filled with twinkling stars.
"Come on, guys! Chubby Bunny time!" Scott's yell interrupted the two before he closed the door again, disappearing behind it, making the human and werecoyote laugh.
"I'm glad he's having fun." Malia smiled as Stiles lead her back down the driveway.
"Me too. Bet I can beat you at Chubby Bunny!" Stiles yelled, bolting into the house.
Malia rolled her eyes, before yelling after him and running.
"Don't bet on it, Stilinski!"
The End.
I hope you enjoyed this, TweakerWolf! I also don't know how you feel about Stalia, but it was a cannon ship at this point in the show (this is in the season 4 universe.)
I also hope you enjoyed the Danny cameo!
Hope everyone has a merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa!