The Christmas Letter
Summary: Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.
Chapter 2:
"Hey Syd?"
She had been standing at the foot of her bed, the same bed that she got to call hers for the few days that she was supposed to be staying with the Hales, digging out the small gifts that she had gotten for everyone. For the most part, they weren't wrapped because her grandma had pointed out that the chances of the wrapping making it all the way to California from Colorado unscathed were slim to none.
So when Derek had poked his head into her room, she had made a mad scramble to make sure that none of the presents currently residing on her bed were for him and after a quick look over, she let out a soft, relieved sigh. His was still buried somewhere in her bags, another gift waiting to be wrapped when the time came. When she had spoken to Talia last, she had even asked if it would be okay for her to do her wrapping there and Talia had promised to make sure that there were enough supplies for Sydney to do so.
"Yeah Derek?" Sydney paused in her search and glanced back at the doorway, her best friend stepping into her room and closing in on her. "What's up?"
"We were just getting ready to decorate the tree, did you want to join us?" Derek asked in a calm voice, something that she wasn't entirely used to from her friend. Derek was a bit on the cocky side, slightly arrogant and if something made him mad, boy did she never hear the end of it.
Since school was out for the Christmas holidays though, and there wasn't much trouble for Derek to get into, she figured that maybe the festive spirit had had a decent chance to insert itself into Derek's life for the time being. She could get rather used to this Derek, at least he wasn't always going around growling or snarling, a definite improvement from many of their times spent together before.
"Uh, yeah, that sounds nice. Give me like five minutes and I'll be down." Sydney gave him a nod of her head and she felt his palm gingerly pressing against the back of her shoulder. When she turned sideways to look at him, he furrowed his eyebrows together in a look of concern.
"I'm sorry that you have to spend your Christmas with us." He murmured and she tilted her head to the side. Before she had a chance to ask though, Derek was moving towards the door, disappearing into the hallway.
She shook her head at her friend and considered why he had said what he did. There was no reason to be sorry, spending Christmas with the Hales seemed like a much better option than spending them at home alone, or with her grandparents and Maude wherever that may be, in fact, if it weren't for Peter stealing her letter, then this would've been the best holiday for her since her parents had been around.
She could feel the love in the air, the sense of family, plus being back in California, a place that had once been so familiar to her, was almost comforting. Sure there wasn't any snow and she wasn't actually in her old house, or with her parents, but this was close enough. She had Derek, her best friend; Talia, one of the nicest women she had ever had the privilege of knowing; plus there was Laura and Cora, who had never been anything other than nice to her.
Spending Christmas with the Hales was something that she planned on enjoying, so why had Derek said he was sorry?
She considered it a few seconds longer and her mind drifted to her missing 'Dear Santa' letter, and suddenly it hit her. He wasn't sorry that she was spending Christmas with a family such as the Hales, he wasn't sorry that she was spending the holidays with people that cared about her, he was sorry that she had to spend Christmas without her parents, yet again.
Sydney shook her head and sucked in a breath, shoving her hand down into the bag in front of her and digging around for Derek's present. It wasn't much, none of the gifts she had picked out were anything major, but in her eyes, there was thought behind them and wasn't that what mattered?
When she freed the picture frame, a little tricycle adorning the bottom corner, she couldn't help but smile. Inside the frame resided a photo of her and Derek as little children, each one of them on a bicycle. Sydney's still had her training wheels on while Derek was riding without any support at all. The picture had been taken from behind by her mother, which meant that only their backs were visible, but to this day, it was still one of her most favourite photographs of the two of them. An exact match was tacked to her wall back in Colorado.
"What you got there?"
Sydney jumped at the sound of Peter's voice coming from behind her. Without thinking too much about it, she turned her head around and let out a low growl, showing him that she wasn't pleased with him.
"Nothing." She countered and quickly shoved the picture back into her bag. If he was going to waltz into her room and look over her shoulder at what she was doing, then at least she'd save face with Derek's present. She wanted him to be surprised when he opened it on Christmas morning and if Peter caught wind of what she had gotten for him, then she had no doubts that he'd ruin that too, just like he had ruined her day already by stealing her letter.
"That's not nothing." He purred and she winced at the sound of his footsteps marching into the room. When he came to a stance beside her, she glanced up at him but kept a confident expression on her face. He wasn't going to know how angry she was, he wasn't going to see her falter, she was going to pretend that she was fine being near him for as long as she possibly could. "Seems you've got gifts here, is there one on your bed for me?"
"Yup." She gave him one firm nod of her head.
"Are you going to tell me which one?"
"Wasn't planning on it." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well this is interesting." Peter's smirk grew on his face and while she was becoming a little anxious at what he was thinking, she tried to remain dignified. He wasn't going to get to her, not again. "Seems you've gotten everyone here something rather thoughtful, something they'd like dearly. Do you want to know what I got everyone?"
"I don't care." Sydney's voice came out firm, a sign of confidence, but she was feeling anything but.
"The answer, my Christmas elf, is nothing. I don't have time to waste looking for gifts for my family, and now it seems that I don't have to." He looked into her eyes, waiting for her to understand what he was saying. She tilted her head sideways in confusion but before she could open her mouth, he carried on. "Although, I might just want to keep these all for myself."
"What? No!" She protested and made a move to gather them all up, but Peter was much too quick for her, moving to stand in between her and the bed, effectively blocking her reach. "You can't do that!"
"I can, unless you want me to tell everyone about your little letter to our dear Saint Nicholas." Peter taunted and watched as Sydney's shoulders slumped in defeat. Oh yes, this would be a much better Christmas now that he had someone to toy with, someone who was so easily broken by his demands. "That's what I thought, now, I overheard that you're going to be helping with the tree?"
"I am."
"See, there's been a bit of discussion about who gets to put the star on the top of the tree. Now, apparently my family has decided that since you're our guest of honour," Peter paused and rested his palms on her shoulders, holding her in front of him and drawing her eyes up to meet his, "you'd get the privilege. I don't like that idea, so I think it would be in your best interest if you pass the star on to someone else, someone a little older, a little wiser, someone more like-"
"You?" She cut in and straightened up the slightest little bit. "Is that what you want? The star?"
"I could care less about the star itself but see, the person that gets to put it on the top of the tree gets treated like royalty for the night. Obviously since I generally tend to think that I should've been born royal…well, you can see how this all fits together, can't you little Sydney?"
"Fine. I'll give you the star." She let out a sigh of frustration and took a step back, his hands falling away from her shoulders.
"Good girl." He grinned at her. "Now, help me get these wonderful little gifts to my room, I'm going to need time to sort through them before I have you wrap them up for me, if there's any that need wrapping that is."
She bit back the words that were swimming in her head and gave him a simple nod in response. Sydney didn't trust her voice, she didn't trust her body either, so instead of speaking or moving, she just stood absolutely still in front of him and hoped that he'd leave her alone soon enough.
Peter gave her one last saccharine smile before turning his back to her, gathering up as many of the little trinkets that she had brought with her as he could and then proceeded to prance out of the room, pausing in the doorway to look back at her.
"Be a doll and grab the rest." He instructed and took off into the hallway, leaving her alone in the room once again.
Without putting up a fuss, she did as she was told, gathered up the remaining gifts into her arms, stole one last look at her bag where the frame was safely stashed, and took off after him.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
With constant looks over her shoulder at Peter, who was sitting on the couch not too far away eating cookie after cookie, she knew that she'd never be able to relax, not so long as he had possession of her letter. She wondered if he had dared to read it, hoping that he hadn't. It held too many secrets, too many feelings that she didn't want anyone to know about, but part of her believed that maybe if he had read it, then he wouldn't be so manipulative to her at the present time.
Who was she kidding, this was Peter Hale that she was talking about. It didn't matter what the letter said, either way, he wouldn't pass up an opportunity to nag her, even if he was aware of what she had written to Santa.
When she looked over her shoulder for the umpteenth time and stole another glance at the man devouring the Christmas cookies and treats that she had brought with her, she met his eye and he gave her an encouraging, albeit subtle, nod. Okay, so as long as she did what she was told and didn't stir up any trouble, then maybe she'd believe he wouldn't announce to everyone that she had written a letter to Father Christmas at the age of sixteen.
It wasn't that she believed in him, not at all, but there were things that she wanted, things that she asked for from the man from the North Pole that she knew no one else would be able to give her. If anyone found out what those things were, well that would be upsetting, more so than having Peter hold the whole thing over her head.
"Geez Peter, save some for the rest of us." Laura barked at him and Peter gave her a quick glare before picking up one of the homemade white chocolates with crushed cherry candy cane in them. "You're such a pig."
"He doesn't like sharing." Cora added in and tossed a knowing smile in Sydney's direction. "You remember that much about him, don't you?"
Derek let out a groan at his little sister's remark but Sydney met his eyes and forced a smile at him. It had only been six years since she had spent any large amount of time with the Hales and while she did barely remember Peter, she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't big on sharing. If he ate every single cookie and every single chocolate that she had brought, it certainly wouldn't surprise her.
"Give me one." Derek grumbled and stepped over towards Peter, nabbing a couple of the white chocolates out of the containers on the coffee table. There were decorations strewn about next to the treats as Laura, Cora, Derek and Sydney made their way through them, pining over every ornament before finding the perfect place for it. Talia was sitting in a comfortable looking armchair across the room, a smile on her face as she watched her family adorning the tree with all the intricate and delicate ornaments that they had acquired over the years.
When Derek strode back over to the tree, he offered his sisters a chocolate and then proceeded to offer one to Sydney. Sydney passed it up but Laura and Cora popped them into their mouths and then gave Sydney an approving smile. Derek followed suit and ate his own chocolate while Sydney watched on with a smile of her own, but not before stealing one more glance back at Peter, who gave her a shrug in response.
"I can't believe you guys have a real tree." Sydney remarked and sauntered over to the coffee table, picking up a little glass boot ornament with a small bow of holly on the toe. Peter rolled his eyes at her but she flashed him a smirk and then headed right back to the tree, taking her place between Laura and Derek.
"Mom says she likes the smell." Derek pointed out and sidled up next to Sydney, the two of them searching for an appropriate place to hang the glass boot.
"It smells more like Christmas, don't you agree Sydney?" Talia piped up from across the room and Sydney considered the woman's statement.
When she still had her parents to share Christmas with, they had almost always had a real tree in their home, but ever since she had moved to Colorado and spent Christmases with her grandparents, they had always had fake ones. She couldn't blame her grandma though, the woman was older and more frail, making it harder for her to take care of the tree. Bending over to water it wasn't easy and then there was the cleanup after Christmas was over, cleanup that her grandma hadn't wanted to deal with.
"I love the smell." Sydney answered softly. "My mom used to insist on getting a real tree, she used to tell me that when I was a baby, I crawled right under it and played in the water."
Derek chuckled at her brief story while the two Hale sisters giggled. Yes, this was nice, she was calm, she was entertaining and she felt accepted.
"You're not going to do that now, are you?" Peter spoke out and Sydney deflated at his words. Right, there was that tiny little detail; dealing with Peter was going to take a lot out of her, but she vowed that she would make it, she'd get through Christmas with the Hales if it killed her.
"No, I haven't done that since I was three." She fired back and when Derek's reassuring hand gave her forearm a pat, she felt herself relaxing one more time.
"I find it's easier if you just ignore him." Derek whispered and threw a smile at her. "We call him Uncle Scrooge when we think he can't hear us."
Sydney gave him a soft smile in response, stole one last look at Peter, and proceeded to focus on the task at hand. The garland had been the first thing to be put on the tree and now the four of them were still trucking away at getting the rest of the ornaments on so that everything looked perfect.
Talia stood up from her chair and disappeared out of the room and when Sydney looked to Derek for an explanation, he merely shrugged at her in response. It was a few minutes later, when Talia returned carrying a small stepladder, that Sydney realized what was going on. This was it, this was the moment when they announced that she would get the honour of putting the star on top of the tree.
She could play this a couple of ways, she could bite the bullet before they even offered it to her, bringing Peter into the equation before anyone knew what was really going on. Or she could wait and see if Talia offered her the star before diverting it over to Peter.
"I think we should get the Grinch over there to help us." Sydney announced with gusto, waving her hand in Peter's direction as he stuffed yet another of her chocolates into his mouth.
Peter froze but brought his eyes up to meet hers. He couldn't say anything though, not with his mouth full of chocolate and Sydney couldn't help but smile: she couldn't have timed it any better if she tried.
"What?" Cora locked her eyes on Sydney but Sydney waved a dismissive hand at the youngest Hale.
"I just don't think it's fair that he gets to sit over there, eating all the treats, without doing some of the work." Sydney explained and Peter narrowed his eyes in on her, most likely wondering what the hell she was doing. "Maybe we could get him to put the star on top?"
"We were going to let you do that." Derek countered and she feigned surprise.
"Oh wow, while I appreciate the offer, I don't do well on stepladders. I have a slight fear of heights, plus I'm totally rocking the bottom branches of this tree, don't you guys think?" Sydney questioned and Cora stepped around the tree, taking in the decorations that Sydney had strung up on the bottom. She peeled her eyes off of it, looked up at their guest and gave her an approving nod.
"You are totally rocking the bottom." Cora teased and Sydney found herself genuinely smiling at the girl standing near her. "I agree with Syd, come on Peter, why don't you grab the star while mom sets up the ladder?"
"By the way, I forgot to tell you," Derek broke in and waited for Sydney to look at him, "There's a bunch of snow at the park, the sheriff brought in a bunch of it for the kids to play with."
"Wait, what?" Sydney's eyes widened at the prospect of snow, whether it was real or fake, she didn't care.
"Apparently since his wife's sick, the sheriff brought in a bunch of fake snow to try to make his kid's Christmas just a little bit better. We can go to the park tomorrow, if you want." Derek stated and suddenly all eyes were on Sydney, including Peter's. She met his gaze and when he rolled his eyes in response, she figured that she was safe to answer however she pleased.
"I think that sounds amazing! That's the one thing I really do miss about Colorado is the snow, it just puts that finishing touch on Christmas." She beamed and felt excited for the first time since Peter had stolen her letter. "We can all go, right?"
"Yeah, me, Laura, Cora-"
"And uncle Peter!" Cora tossed out and Sydney looked over at the man in question. He didn't seem upset by the idea, nor was he looking at her like she was supposed to do something, so instead of trying to make an excuse to get Peter out of it, she just let it go. He could handle himself then, that was fine by her.
"Okay, so tomorrow it is." Derek said as a smile spread out over his face. "Snow on Christmas, who knew right?"
Sydney shook her head in amusement and grabbed another ornament off the coffee table. Peter stepped up behind her, wrapped his hand around the star and looked at her, studying her for a few seconds. When Sydney caught him looking, she nabbed one of the gingerbread cookies from the containers and promptly handed it to him, Peter taking it in his free hand and then taking a bite out of it.
Talia made quick work of getting the stepladder set up next to the tree and once it was ready to go, she slapped the top step, which wasn't any more than four feet off the floor. Peter finished munching on his cookie, held the star firmly in his hand and carefully made his way up to the top of the stepladder.
Once he was safely standing, he stretched out with the star in his hand and gently placed it on the very tip of the tree, taking a few seconds to adjust it and make sure that it was going to stay there without falling off. Once he was confident that it was good, he lifted his hands away from it and held them in the air, a small round of applause sounding out from below, from the people on the floor.
When he finally looked down, his eyes landed on Sydney first, who was smiling at him. It wasn't a mischievous smile, it wasn't some all-knowing smirk either, no, she was genuinely smiling at him. He couldn't help himself as he smiled back at her, their eyes staying locked on each other until Cora lunged for the stepladder, her hand smacking the side of Peter's leg.
"You did good Peter." Cora complimented and Peter tore his eyes away from Sydney, instead he looked down at the stepladder and cautiously dismounted it, letting out a small sigh of relief as his feet hit the floor.
"It's not crocked or anything." Laura added.
"Now all that the tree is really missing is presents." Cora remarked and crouched down next to the tree, looking under the bottom of the tree and gauging how much space was there. "Gee, I hope there's enough gifts to cover up the stump."
"There will be." Talia stated, a smile of her own on her face. "We still need to finish decorating it though, and then I'd appreciate some help with the tree skirt."
"Of course." Laura piped up with a smile.
"I can help too." Sydney threw in.
Derek moved closer to his best friend and slipped his arm around her back, drawing her closer to him. She let her eyes fall shut at the gesture and found her mind drifting back to the Christmases she celebrated when she was still in Beacon Hills.
Her parents always read her the same Christmas story on Christmas Eve after her family and the Hales spent the evening together, sometimes with other people and sometimes with just the two families. She could picture her father hanging up their stockings on the mantle by the fireplace, even going as far as to lift her up so that she could help him.
She remembered leaving out milk and cookies for Santa Claus and carrots for his reindeer and in the morning she'd find all her presents as well as remnants from the food she had left. There were way too many good memories of Christmas, way too many things she wanted to remember but found too painful. At least when she spent her holidays in Colorado, things were drastically different, so different that she rarely felt herself thinking of how things used to be.
Being in the Hale house though, with the real tree, the decorations and even the people, was bringing it all back.
"Syd, come on, let's get the rest of these ornaments up." Derek announced, causing Sydney to open her eyes and peer up at him. She forced a smile onto her face and hoped that the sadness would remain unseen to him.
When she stole another glance at Peter, to make sure he wasn't going to say anything, she took note that he was studying her, his eyes widening the slightest little bit as she met his gaze. What was that? Why was he looking at her like that?
"Sounds good." Sydney murmured and pushed the look Peter had given her to the back of her mind.
For now, in that moment, she'd focus on the tree with the hopes that everything else would fall into place.
