Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.
A/N: This is a follow on to No One Hears Her Howl, and the second in a series I call Reconstruction.
The house in New York was huge. That was the one thing Laura liked instantly. They'd ended up way out on Staten Island in the end, not close to Derek's new school or NYU, but the house made up for it. Walking in reminded Laura of Hale House, it had the same open, grand staircase at the door, but there were more windows, and it was built of stone, not wood.
Frank had even found them a designer who was also a werewolf to help make the place a home. "This place," Gina had said over the phone, "it is a place of light and life."
"I hope so," Laura said, although she was more interested in the woman than the house, "You're a werewolf designer?"
"Of course dear, the Hale Pack might have been old money and practically aristocracy, but a girl's got to eat. A lot of werewolves have jobs just like humans do these days." Gina said.
"But what about hunters?" Laura asked.
"Any hunter wants to come after me will see a woman with strong connections, I led the remodel for the Mayor of New York's penthouse last year after all. People will notice if something were to happen to me." Gina replied with an affected sniff.
"I'm sorry," Laura said, "I never thought of it that way. About the house, you're will to take the job?"
"Of course I will, Laura honey. It will be even more beautiful when I'm done. Now, if you'll send me your email address we can start discussing colors." Gina said, "And don't worry about asking questions. Even Alphas with years of experience need to learn something new every week. It keeps them strong."
Gina had been a gem, turning a slightly outdated house into something new for her and Derek. They'd both laughed about reinforcing everything to handle the enthusiastic rough house of a sixteen year old boy, werewolf or not. Laura never told Gina that she was afraid that it would all be for nothing, that Derek would spend the rest of his life locked in his room drawing the same house repeatedly.
Still, Laura had to hope that changing things would bring Derek out of his grief. So she'd allowed Gina a free reign on the new home, approved colors and patterns, and talked Derek into at least picking something he didn't hate. Mostly by threatening to have his room and bathroom tiled pink and purple if he didn't. Derek didn't mind purple, but she knew he had a deep-seated issue with Barbie and thus avoided pink on principal.
The old Victorian had been made new, all the wood refinished, the built-ins repaired. The kitchen was a chef's wet dream, at Gina's instance. Laura thought it was a shame that the most action the kitchen would see for a while would be her punishing Derek by making him make dinner. Still, they could learn to cook together, it would be a bonding experience. The furniture had been chosen with an eye towards comfort, and being strong enough to take Derek launching himself into them like a sack of flour.
Laura felt happy when she unlocked the door for the first time, "Come on," she told Derek, "let's see if it lives up to its reputation." Derek barely nodded, staring up at the house with a blank expression. They walked inside and Laura smiled as she took in the light and color. "Well?" She asked, turning to Derek.
Derek shrugged.
Laura frowned at him, "Come on Derek, you must have something to say about this."
"It's nice," Derek said after a moment.
"Why don't you take your suitcase up and find your room," Laura said, "I'm going to see if Gina followed through with putting a casserole in the fridge for us."
Derek shrugged, picked up his backpack and headed up stairs.
"Don't lock yourself in, Derek," Laura called after him, "we need to talk."
Derek waved his hand over his shoulder before moving out of sight.
Laura sighed, because it was getting harder to get Derek to just talk to her every day, and there was always a faint whiff of guilt whenever the family came up. She needed to get him to tell her something, even if it was that he'd rather not be here. She put her suitcase down by the stairs and wandered through the house, trailing her fingers over the walls and taking in the beauty of the furniture. It was all overstuffed and sturdy, nothing spindly, nothing antique. New and strongly built.
Gina had complained for hours about how hard it was to find decent furniture for young werewolves, and it had put an idea in Laura's head. That idea hadn't made itself known just yet, but Laura was content to let it wait.
As she passed by a mirror, Laura stopped to stare at herself, studying herself as a potential mate might, or even an omega looking for an Alpha. She had her mother's jaw line, and her nose, but her fair coloring came from her dad. Seeing Derek in the reflection made Laura acknowledge that her little brother looked far more like their mother than she ever would.
"We need to talk about your school," Laura said after they had stared at each other through the mirror for too long. "With the money available, I can send you to any school in the city. I don't know where you see yourself in the future, but I'm sure that we can find you a school that will give you the best education for anything."
Derek nodded once.
Laura spun to glare at him, "I understand that you are grieving," she said, frustrated. "I understand that you need to grieve in your own way. But Derek, you have to tell me things, you have to say things or I'm not going to know if something's wrong. I won't force you to talk, Derek, but if we're going to survive then we have to be able to communicate."
"Survive?" Derek said after a moment.
"Survive, rebuild," Laura threw her hands out, "I don't know. Is that what you want me to say, Derek? I don't know what's going on, or what's going to happen to us. I'm just trying to get you to graduate high school. I'm just trying to get my education. I want to rebuild our pack; I want the name of Hale to be a name worth having again. But whatever the future brings, whoever you and I meet in the future, none of that will mean anything if you and I can't have a conversation about anything." Laura stepped forward and offered her hand to Derek, "I lost them too, you know."
Derek's hand was dry as he slipped it into her own. "It's hard," he said, as if he were choking on the words. "It's hard to say."
Laura pulled him into another hug. "It's okay," she whispered in his hair. "We're going to be okay. We'll be strong together and fuck the world, right?"
Derek's laugh was shaky, but it was still a laugh. Laura counted it as her first victory.
When Derek came down for breakfast the next morning, Laura had a stack of brochures spread out on the table. "What are those?" He asked after a moment.
Laura smiled at him, "Brochures." She flipped through one of the religious school brochures and wondered if her brother would pick a parochial school, and what their mother would have said if he did. She wasn't going to tell him anything more than she could. If he wanted to know something, Derek was going to have to ask. Grunt and point had become outdated with the Neanderthals, and Derek needed to remember that.
"Brochures for what?" Derek said just when Laura was beginning to think he would just ignore her and have some cereal.
"Private schools," Laura said as she picked up a new brochure.
"For me?" Derek asked.
"Nope," Laura said, popping the p. "They're for me, I'm going to see if I can redo all four years and see if I can improve my GPA."
"Good luck with that," Derek said as he began to pour himself some cereal.
"Oh, I intend to," Laura said slowly. She looked at her brother and nudged a stack of brochures that she thought he might like best closer to him.
After a moment of eating, Derek picked the top one and flipped it open. "Art school?" He said, looking at Laura.
"Well you do draw a lot," Laura replied. "I have no clue what you want to study."
Derek shrugged and turned back to the brochure, "Nothing there," he said firmly after a few more minutes. He eyed the stacks, "Anything science and math related?"
"There are a few," Laura said, "not sure where they went, but they're here. Want to help me look?"
Derek nodded before taking another bite of cereal. Then he reached for another brochure to begin reading. After several long minutes, he cleared his throat, "Hey Laura?"
"Yeah, Derek?" Laura asked, looking up at her brother.
He opened his mouth and stared at her for a long minute, then he closed his mouth and looked at his bowl, "Next time we get groceries, can we get Oreo Os or Count Chocula?"
"Sure," Laura said, "I'll put it on the list." She kept her smile calm, but inside she was celebrating her first victory.