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 8:

When Sydney woke up on Christmas morning, Peter was gone.

If it hadn't been for the two envelopes residing on the pillow next to the one she was using, then she might've not even been able to convince herself that the events of the night before had even happened. Peter was a sneaky, manipulative person, and she knew what he had done for her but that didn't mean that he'd take credit for it now that the moment was over.

But seeing the letters there, the one she had written to Santa Claus that she had brought with her, and the one that he had written her as a response, on the pillow next to her head, she knew that he had done exactly what she knew he did. He had come into the living room, found her curled up under a blanket in the bay window watching the scene outside and had ended up reading her a letter that he had written to her.

Sitting up in the bed, Sydney stretched her arms into the air and felt her tired muscles pulling and straining as she did so. Her eyes fell back down to the letters and without hesitating for a second longer, she scooped them up into her hold and clutched them against her chest, promising herself that she wasn't going to let them fall into the wrong hands. She let her eyes fall shut and for a brief second the image of her parents flooded her mind, but all she could do was smile the tiniest little bit.

It was Christmas morning after all, and she had faith that Peter wasn't going to do anything to embarrass her any more. He still had all of her gifts, but she could deal with that, so long as she had her letter back.

Opening her eyes and sucking in a breath, Sydney hopped out of her bed and stepped over to the corner where she had stashed her bag. She tucked the two letters inside and forced them to the bottom, hiding them under her other personal items before zipping the pouch shut. She straightened up, turned back to the bed and fixed it so that it looked somewhat made before stepping out into the hall in her pajamas.

"Just in time, I was coming to get you." Derek grinned at her and waved her forward. She jogged to catch up to him and fell in stride next to him, walking towards the stairs where he paused. She looked sideways at him and when he slipped an arm around her waist, she leaned into him and let him hug her. The embrace was warm and comforting and she felt herself smiling yet again at the feeling of Derek hugging her.

All too quickly though, he pulled away, but he grabbed her hand in the process and tugged her along behind him as he wandered down the stairs.

Upon entering the living room, Sydney looked around the room and took note that Laura and Cora were on the floor in front of the tree while Talia sat in her arm chair not too far away. Peter was situated on the couch and when she caught his gaze, he gave her an encouraging nod. Sydney continued to follow Derek, who took a seat on the floor not too far away from his older sister.

"We set your cookies out on the coffee table." Talia pointed out with a comforting smile and Sydney nodded her head. "I hope that's okay, Christmas morning isn't complete without Christmas cookies."

"Yeah, it's just too bad that Peter's eaten all of the gingerbread." Laura snorted in amusement and Peter rolled his eyes at her in response.

"They are my favourite after all." Peter threw in and leaned back into the cushions on the back of the couch. Sydney looked at him again but this time he held her gaze, staring right back at her as she studied him a little longer.

He seemed in good spirits, there was a calm expression on his face, which was a stark contrast to his usual mischievous glint. She tucked her hands under her bum and sucked in a small breath, not sure how to state that she didn't actually have any gifts for any of the Hales.

Before she could say a word though, Derek picked up one of the presents from under the tree and turned it over in his hands. Sydney watched him closely and when she spotted the label on the corner of the gift, she furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.

"Syd, you know you didn't have to get me anything." Derek said softly and she whipped her head around to lock her eyes on Peter yet again. He merely smiled at her in response and gave her the tiniest little wave of his hand.

"Or me." Laura added and Sydney's attention was immediately on the older girl. Sydney looked at the relatively neat wrapping of the gift in her hold and opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She was confused, thoroughly confused, and totally not expecting anything like this to happen.

"It was very nice of you to get us gifts." Derek stated and reached out, nabbing two more presents from under the tree, both with labels that read 'from Sydney'. Derek handed one to his mother and one to Cora before Sydney leaned forward and grabbed the one with Peter's name marked on the label.

She ran her fingers along the edge of the wrapping, wrapping that she hadn't done, and turned around. Stretching out towards him, she offered him the gift that she assumed he had wrapped himself. Peter leaned forward to meet her and took the gift out of her hand before offering her yet another envelope. Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and looked up at Peter.

"Merry Christmas." Peter said in a low tone, just quiet enough to not be heard by the others but loud enough that Sydney understood his words loud and clear.

"Same to you." Sydney countered and took the envelope out of his hands. Peter set the gift for him on the empty cushion next to him and she shook her head, trying to shake off the entire encounter.

It was almost weird having Peter treat her like a normal human being. She had grown rather accustomed to his threatening and manipulative ways since she had arrived, but she wasn't about to complain, it was certainly a nice change for him to not constantly be lingering in the background ready to pounce on her when he wanted something from her.

Settling in beside Derek, Sydney simply watched as Laura and Cora divvied up the remaining gifts from under the tree. While her pile wasn't nearly as big, she didn't care, she was just glad to have a family to spend the morning with, especially one as nice and loving as the Hales, which now included Peter. She picked through her gifts slowly, keeping an eye on the rest of the Hales while Cora zipped right through hers.

It was nice, watching the younger girl get excited with each and every gift, even the one that Sydney had got her, which wasn't anything more than the latest bestselling young adult novel. Sydney herself loved to read when she had the chance and she knew that books were one thing that never, ever went out of style, nor did the technology surrounding a book ever become obsolete.

Cora had seemed ecstatic, even if she had quickly moved on to another, larger, more elaborate gift courtesy of her own mother.

When Laura peeled off the paper to the mosaic candle holder that Sydney had gotten for her, she had spent a few minutes looking it over, oohing and ahhing over how pretty the cut pieces of glass, which formed a vine of flowers winding around the glass itself, fit together. It wasn't anything big or expensive but it had been something Sydney had spent a lot of time and thought on.

She had missed Talia opening the gift that Sydney had gotten her, but when she looked over, her hand painted jewelry box was sitting on the small side table next to the chair so that it didn't get ruined in the excitement.

Sydney hadn't been trying to wow them, all she had wanted was for the Hales to see that she did care about them enough to get them something relatively nice. Maybe when she was gone they'd simply put her gifts out of their minds, but she didn't care, for her it was nice to just give them something and in return she received their kindness.

Derek froze next to her and she peered over his shoulder at him. She hadn't been expecting her picture to be in his possession and she certainly hadn't expected it to be back inside a frame that was almost as nice as the one she had originally picked out. Derek dragged his index finger over the glass, his eyes glued to the photograph of the two of them bicycling away from whoever was taking the picture, in this case Sydney's mom, and without warning, he looked up at her, one of his eyebrows raised up in contemplation.

"I remember this." He murmured and Sydney set her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"So do I." She replied in a low tone.

"It was a good day." Derek remarked and turned his attention back down to the picture. "I love it."

"I dug it out from my collection. I didn't know what else to get you." Sydney offered with a slight shrug, her hand falling away from his shoulder. Derek continued to stare down at the picture, even with the damage done to it, it looked relatively decent now that it was back in a frame, behind a pane of glass. He didn't move for a few seconds and when he did, he gently set the frame down with the rest of his presents, then he turned to face her.

Sydney met his eyes and before she could object, he took her into his arms and held on to her tightly, hugging her with everything he had. She relaxed against him and let her eyes fall shut, basking in the comfort that his embrace provided to her on that particular Christmas morning.

Sure it wasn't the same as being with her parents but it was still nice, really nice, and at that very second, there wasn't anything in the world that she wanted more than the hug that Derek was giving her. She set her head against his shoulder and Derek didn't move, he didn't even loosen his hold on her, he simply held her in his arms.

"I'll miss you so much when you leave." He whispered and she let out a soft sigh in response, not entirely sure how to respond.

For a few seconds longer, they held on to each other and if it wasn't for Peter throwing a chocolate covered almond at them, and hitting Sydney in the side of the head, she would've just let him hug her for the rest of the day. It was nice and when they eventually did pull away, she smiled at her best friend.

"Don't throw food." Cora scolded her uncle but Peter just raised his hands in surrender, fearful that the youngest Hale might get the wrong idea and start some sort of Christmas food fight, and he definitely didn't want to waste any more of the treats in front of him.

"Okay." Peter acquiesced and turned his attention back to the small pile of unopened gifts next to him, one of which was the gift that Sydney had picked out for him. He already knew what it was, he had to, he had been the one to take all the gifts and then wrap them up for his family. She wasn't too concerned, she had managed to find him a small wooden box shaped like a book. The spine was covered in a dark, fancy paper with silver accents and on the front was a menacing looking beast that resembled a Lycan.

She hadn't known at the time if he'd actually like it or not, but she had immediately thought of him when she had laid her eyes on it and in her mind it was perfect. She tucked a gift card for the big name bookstore inside just to be safe, but if Peter was disappointed by it, he didn't give anything away.

Sydney lifted the envelope that he had given her up and ripped open the piece of the flap that he had sealed. When she was able to get inside, she gripped whatever was tucked away with her index finger and thumb, lifting it upwards and freeing it from the paper prison.

When she studied the picture that had been in the envelope, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of what was forever locked in the photograph. Her mother was in the picture, sitting in an armchair that looked almost exactly like the one Talia was currently sitting in, except it was at the Vance house. There was another chair next to it with a small table in between and residing in the other chair was Talia. Both women were looking down into their arms where two babies could be seen and it didn't take much for Sydney to realize that she was the baby in her mother's arms while Derek was the baby in Talia's arms.

"Hey where'd you find that?" Derek piped up and set his finger on the edge of the picture in her hold. Sydney looked up at him expecting to meet his eyes but Derek was staring back at Peter, his question directed at his uncle and not at her.

"I have a collection of picture of my own." Peter answered vaguely but Derek narrowed his eyes in on the man on the couch. "It was in one of the packages I have tucked away, I'm pretty sure I'm the one that took the picture."

Sydney reached her hand out and set it on Derek's bicep, drawing his attention back down to the picture in her hold.

"That's you and me." She murmured and he nodded his head yes. "I've never seen this before, it's…it's amazing."

"You and I were cute babies." Derek pointed out with a smirk.

"Even as newborns, you two were irritating as all get out." Peter remarked but when Sydney met his eyes, she smiled at him and he couldn't help but feel a little bit better about the fact that she liked what he had given her, even if it was just a photograph of her as a baby.

"We were conspiring against you since we could walk and talk." Derek retorted sarcastically and Sydney let out a snort of amusement, immediately shying away from Peter and Derek's piercing gazes.

"Sorry." She shook her head and glanced around the room, by this point in time, she held Talia and Laura's attention too and without hesitating for a second, she held the picture up so that Talia could see it, a smile immediately coming across her best friend's mother's face.

"Your mother was so excited that we got to be mothers at the same time, it didn't matter that I was already on my second child when she was only on her first." Talia stated. "You two were bound to be close simply based on the fact that your mother and I were best friends."

"Yeah." Sydney nodded her agreement.

"Do you miss her?" Derek piped up and Sydney looked between Derek and Talia, clearly taken aback by his question. "Mom, do you miss Syd's mom?"

"Every day." Talia answered in a sad tone and Sydney sucked in a breath, fighting off the urge to cry herself.

It was a nice thought, that Talia missed her mom almost as much as she did, and while it was sad to think about, the idea that Sydney wasn't the only one suffering from the death of her parents comforted her the tiniest little bit, especially on Christmas. Derek's hand ran across Sydney's back and he gingerly tugged her against him, letting her curl up against his chest as the two of them stared down at the picture together.

"I just thought you'd like to have that." Peter spoke up with a shrug. Sydney nodded her head again but didn't dare turn to look at him.

She wasn't sure how she'd react to meeting his eyes, especially with everything that he knew about her from the letter. This picture, the photo of her mom, Talia, Derek and her was perfect, it was the best gift she ever could've asked for and it had come from Peter. Peter, who had tried to hold her Santa letter over her head and get her to do whatever he wanted her to, the same Peter that had treated her as more of a nuisance than anything.

Maybe there was a little bit of Christmas magic in the air after all.

"Do you have any other pictures like this one?" Derek asked and Peter moved away from the couch before dropping down to sit next to Derek, who was still hanging on to Sydney.

"I don't know, maybe. If you want, I can bring the rest of my pictures down later and the two of you can look through them." Peter offered and caught the sight of the tears welling up in Sydney's eyes. She blinked a few times and took in deep breaths and when Peter met her eyes again, he felt a little better because she had managed to fight off the tears for the time being.

"I'd like that." Sydney said in a hushed whisper.

"And I'll pay to have copies made if you find any pictures that you might want for yourself Sydney." Talia announced and Peter lifted his hand up, waving off her offer.

"I can cover the cost of copies, I'll even send them to you in Colorado." Peter cut in.

"Thank you, that's really nice." Sydney bowed her head.

"Yeah, that is really nice." Laura spoke up and leveled a glare on her uncle. "What the Christmas bells has gotten in to you Peter?"

Cora giggled at the creative use of foul but not really foul language but it was Sydney's loud bark of laughter that caught everyone by surprise. Suddenly all eyes were on her but it didn't matter, she was already laughing harder than she should've been and she couldn't even think about stopping. It was too good, the whole thing was nice, and she was just glad that she was a part of it, she was glad that she was there to enjoy being around a real family for the first time since her parents had been taken away from her.

It was too amusing to her, way too amusing: the idea of Uncle Scrooge suddenly becoming nice on Christmas, especially to the one person that he had treated as a nuisance, a mere irritation or thorn in his side. She found her mind drifting back to the cartoon that she had watched way too many times come the holidays and in the famous words of the narrator from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 'Well, in Whoville they say - that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day'. Peter had put thought into her gift and while it wasn't much, she was grateful for anything and everything. He had given her back her gifts, he had even wrapped them himself and put them under the tree so that she was just as surprised as the rest of the family come Christmas morning.

That must've been the reason why he had been up so late the night before and why he had found himself in the living room sitting in the bay window with her. She hadn't questioned it at the time, she had merely accepted it for what it was but now, it was all starting to make sense.

He had read her letter and gone out the day before in search of a decent replacement for the frame that he had been responsible for breaking. He had nabbed the picture from the living room the night that it had almost been ruined and he had kept it hidden until he could figure out how to at least try to make her Christmas a little bit better, especially after finding out that she was completely broken by the idea of spending another Christmas without her parents.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she had to go through year after year, day after day. It wasn't something that he would wish on his enemy and Sydney certainly wasn't an enemy, at most she was just an irritation, a minor blip on his nuisance scale and that was only because she was friends with Derek. Aside from this Christmas, it wasn't even as though he had seen her in years, which made it all the more saddening when he had read her letter and realized that he had treated her awfully.

And boy had he made her Christmas awful to start with but now he was hoping that he had made it better, and not just by a little bit. When she had seen the gifts that she had brought for them, she had been surprised, pleasantly so. Peter had a heart after all, he wasn't just some emotionless jerk, he wasn't just some mean old Grinch of a person, no, he wasn't so bad at all.

She laughed for a few more seconds and when she noticed the curious look Derek was shooting in her direction, she shook her head and looked back at Peter, a smile very present on her face and a sparkle in her eye that he hadn't ever seen.

"I'm sorry." Sydney waved them off. "I really am, it's just, this is definitely one of the best Christmases I've had in a long time."

"Right, but he still hasn't answered the question. I mean, in true Peter fashion, he should've gotten you like a gross Christmas cake or something." Laura explained and grinned at the glare that Peter was directing her way.

"I'm not that bad at gift giving." Peter argued and Laura leveled him with another glare. "Okay, so I'm not the greatest gift giver, what does it matter anyways?"

"Uh because it's weird and it's kind of making me uncomfortable. Like what happened to you to make you not so…so Grinchy?" Laura questioned and Peter let out a growl at the accusation.

He wasn't a Grinch, at least he didn't think he was all that bad. He wasn't a big fan of Christmas in general and he hadn't originally been all that thrilled with the idea of boarding one of Derek's little friends, but it hadn't turned out all bad, not for him and not once he had realized that Sydney was hurting a lot more than she was letting on.

Sydney reached out and set her hand on Peter's wrist though, pulling him away from Laura and drawing his attention away from her just long enough to mouth the words 'thank you' to him. He nodded at her, knowing that the picture meant more to her than anyone else would ever know, and with that, he relaxed on the floor, trying to ignore Laura's ribbing.

He looked around the room, caught the smiles on the rest of his family's faces and felt a smile of his own taking up residence on his face.

Someone had once said that Christmas was all about family and while a few days ago Peter hadn't felt the same way, there was something in the air that morning, something different that particular year, that had him feeling good.

It was all about family and maybe, just maybe, he could get used to spending the holidays with the people that loved him, even if he was known as Uncle Scrooge.

In his heart though, and in Sydney's eyes, he'd always be known as the man who could've ruined Christmas and chose not too and after all, what more could he have possibly asked for?

With one last look over at Sydney, Peter joined in and smiled right along with her, and everyone else that he was proud to be with on Christmas morning.