Derek isn't expecting the hug and he tenses a little when Sookie envelops him, because he's still expecting pain and not kindness when someone reaches for him. God, he's probably any therapist's walking wet dream.

But Sookie is warm and soft, holding him tight, and Derek sinks into it, curling over to rest his head on her shoulder even though she's so much smaller. She scratches his scalp and he rolls his eyes in fond exasperation, nipping light and playful at her shoulder before she pulls away. He even blushes a little when she kisses his cheek, and it's so much that it's like he's drowning in affection. It's not a terrible feeling.

"Just a little," Derek admits, when really it's like he can't breathe without her. "I miss my sister. It's my first Christmas without her and - and I feel guilty, for missing her so badly when my entire family is gone. I miss them too, but it was just me and Laura for so long, and it's like she was just here next to me, but now she isn't, and I don't know what to do. She's supposed to be alpha, not me. She's supposed to tell me what to do."

Derek is embarrassed by his rambling, but it's not like she couldn't hear him screaming it inside his own head anyway. It makes it easier to talk, knowing how hard it would be to hide from her.