.

Derek was standing in front of what used to be his home. There was still yellow tape tied around the trees, but with time it had sagged in places and torn in others, nothing but pale streamers for the wind to pick up. The grass was dead beneath his feet, and over the past two years what was once the front lawn was buried beneath a solid layer of fall leaves. The front porch seemed to be following close behind with this endeavor, and it was as if the house was trying to meld back into the woods and disappear altogether.

"I still don't understand why you come here."

Derek didn't move at the sound of Laura's voice. He'd heard her drive in, listened to her as she made her way through the woods to the house. It was notably hard to sneak up on a werewolf, even for other weres. But Laura knew Derek would be able to hear her, and that hadn't been her intention anyways.

"I never know what to say to you when you get like this."

"Then don't say anything."

Laura heaved a sigh, kicking at the leaves with the toe of her boot. "You should have gone to school today. Isaac told me that a kid threw a chair through a window in Finstock's class."

Derek raised an eyebrow, finally turning to look at her. "Seriously?"

He could see the slight glint in her eye when he turned to her, knowing that was her way of internally celebrating when she got him to talk, but she didn't say anything of it. Instead, she shrugged. "Apparently. Quite impressive if it's true—thought the windows would be stronger."

"Who was it?"

"Said it was the Stilinski kid."

Derek vaguely knew of him, had seen him a few times in school; he was a scrawny kid that had a loud mouth. His father had been the one assigned to their case after the fire. He was a nice enough guy, something Derek had truly appreciated, and also why he'd felt so bad having to lie to him. "Didn't think he'd have it in him."

"You and the rest of the school, I'm sure," Laura said with a shrug, turning back to look at the house. "But, you know, kid's going through a tough time... Guess everything finally got to him."

He could hear her voice pitch lower at the end of that sentence, knowing her thoughts were drifting to their own tragic history. Laura hated coming here, hated being reminded of what they'd lost. Occasionally she'd come by to pay her respects, or collect Derek whenever need be, but otherwise she avoided it at all costs.

Derek, on the other hand, came here a lot. He attributed it to his masochism, a punishment to have to stand at the sight of his greatest betrayal. When he closed his eyes, he could pretend to smell the scent of dinner baking in the oven, of fresh laundry being put away, of his brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins—of family. In reality, all that was left was the lingering scent of burnt flesh and charred wood.

"Was there a reason you came?" he asked, keeping any distinguishable tone from his voice.

She blinked a few times, looking back over at him as if she'd forgotten that he was there. "Oh, um, no… not really. Just makin' sure my little brother is alright."

"Peter sent you, didn't he?"

He could practically hear her eyes roll. "You know, he does care about you Derek, despite what you might think."

He merely grunted in response.

After the fire, Peter had become their guardian. He moved them to a fairly large house on the outskirts of town, far from their old house but still nestled with its back to the woods. In truth it wasn't much, but it was enough for them. Peter pretty much let them live their own lives; he wasn't so much a parent figure as he was a benefactor.

"Speaking of Peter," Laura pushed on, "will you be joining us in the festivities planned for Friday?"

"What?"

"Peter's throwing a party," she said in a what else could I possibly be talking about tone. "Well, no—I'm technically throwing it, but he's supplying the refreshments."

"That was a terrible segue," he spoke flatly.

"He said it would be good for you to come," she continued, as if he'd said nothing at all, "that you needed to loosen up a little. I can't say I don't agree with him. You've been doing that whole broody, the-world-is-against-me thing again," she said with a wrinkle of her nose. "I think it's time you had some joy thrust back in your life."

"Laura," he began with a deep sigh, "I—"

"Nope!" she cut him off before he could finish. "No if, ands, or buts. You're going. I may have left out the part where it was non-negotiable."

He leveled her with the infamous Hale glare, but it was completely lost on her. When Laura wanted something, she tended to get it no matter what. That war was lost before it had even started.

"Oh, don't give me that," she embellished with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, the whole pack is going. It'll be fun!"

Derek made an irritated noise in response.

"Hey, none of that! Just because you don't like them doesn't mean we shouldn't bond with our pack—"

"Your pack, Laura," he snapped. "Not mine."

There was a notable pause where Derek could almost feel Laura suppressing her alpha instincts to put him in line. After she'd become alpha, she'd promised to never use her power over him beyond when it was absolutely necessary. While she had always been his older sister, having grown up so close made the adjustment to her power more difficult.

"Derek," she began slowly, keeping her voice even, "they're our pack, both of us. You need to bond with them as much as I do."

"No Laura, I really don't. They're your pack; you chose them, now they're your responsibility."

"And part of that responsibility is making sure this pack functions well as a unit, that everyone is included," she shot back. "I know you didn't ask for this Derek, but, like it or not, they're part of this pack now. Besides, they're good kids. Just give them a chance," she ended on a sigh, the closest her voice would get to a plea.

After a long pause, Derek conceded that it would just be better to give in on this occasion rather than keep antagonizing her. "Fine."

"Thank you," she nodded softly, her lips spreading in a small smile as she reached up to touch his arm. He instinctually leaned into the touch, enjoying the affectionate touch from his sister—his alpha—before she dropped her hand, turning to head back towards the car.

"It could have been just us, you know," he mused aloud. "We could have left, made it on our own."

He heard her footsteps come to a stop at his words, and felt rather than saw the sadness that no doubt colored her features. "Der..." She paused, as if considering her words before continuing. "Truthfully? I wouldn't give us a week. Remember all the trouble we used to get into? Just imagine us out there on our own; we'd probably get ourselves into more trouble than we could ever sweet-talk our way out of."

The lighthearted tone from before had seeped back into her voice, and despite himself Derek couldn't stop the small smile that pulled at his lips from the memories. "You never know; maybe we've grown out of that."

She gave a derisive laugh. "Yeah, right. I'll see you at home."

Derek listened to her turn and head back to her car, listened as she drove away until the car was a mere hum in the distance, blending in with all the others.

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket, staring back up at the burnt shell of his old life. Maybe the party wouldn't be too bad; it'd been awhile since he'd been social in any form, and while the idea didn't exactly thrill him, maybe it was time for him to return to society. And even though he didn't agree with Laura's choice of pack members, he knew he would have to get used to them eventually.

And maybe he could allow this anniversary to pass without any pain.