thanksgiving is, after all, a word of action [set on 11/26]

[triskehale]

Thanksgivings in the Hale house used to be quite the big deal. Feeding over a dozen werewolves, many of them teenagers was no easy feat. Derek loved all the chaos, and he helped out in the kitchen since he was old enough to stand on a step stool and reach the counter.

The first year after everyone died, he and Laura each got a rotisserie chicken and some biscuits, trying to hang on to some semblance of tradition, but the food tasted like ash. Laura went to bed early, and Derek pretended not to hear her cry. They stopped trying to do anything for the holiday after that.

It's been almost a decade since that disastrous attempt, and a few months ago Derek decided that he wanted to try again. While Laura and the rest of his family will always be the cause of this gnawing ache in his heart, Derek has a new family here in Darrow. He has so many people that matter to him, and care about him. It's more than Derek deserves, or ever thought that he would get, but he's grateful. He's thankful.

So he decides that he's going to do his best to put on a Thanksgiving of his own, and invite his new ragtag sort of pack. His new family.

The invitations go out and on the big day, Derek arrives at Semele's just after dawn. He puts two giant turkeys in the oven and quickly sets up the long table and chairs in the middle of the bar. With each chair he places, Derek marvels over just how many people he has in his life. It's astounding to him, and it's the perfect day to show his gratitude.

And then, all that's left to do is cook. And cook, and cook some more. If he's lucky, he'll have time to go shower and put on something nice before all his guests arrive.


[Hale pack Thanksgiving! Treat this as a gathering post. Tag in, tag around, give thanks! ♥]

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[everyonetakes]

She doesn't totally know what it is, if it's the atmosphere of the party, if it's the fact that it's Thanksgiving and she's once again spending it without any of her biological family here, if it's the conversation she'd had earlier with Eric or what, but she catches sight of Newt across the bar and she's suddenly so intensely grateful for everything he is to her that she finds herself having to stare down at her plate of pie in her hands for a few minutes until her vision clears.

Then she's striding across the room with a second plate of pie that she holds out to Newt as soon as she's close enough.

"Thank you for being you," she says and it's said with a little grin, something to take the edge off just how serious that might otherwise sound. While she and Newt have no problems at all telling each other how in love they are, how happy they are, there's something about being thankful for him -- even at Thanksgiving -- in a room full of people that's just a touch too serious for her. But she needs to say it. Because she is.

[sciencesaggressively]

She's giving him that look, the one that means a sappy moment is on its way, and Newt knows it'll only last until one of them decides it's gone on for far too long. Most of the time, that happens pretty quickly, which is fine because yearning gazes, heartfelt speeches, none of that is really them; but when they do fall into moments like these, he can't deny that he doesn't quietly love them, and he has no doubt that Kate feels the same way.

"I don't know how to be anyone else," he tells her, flashing a wink before pressing a kiss to her cheek. "But between the two of us, I think I got the better end of the deal. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm super badass and shit, but come on. Nobody else in this place has Kate Gregson as their wife."

And he's not being facetious, Newt always feels proud to be out with Kate, to hold her hand and watch other people glance down at their wedding rings. He still feels like he had when they'd officially started dating, like he wants to shout from every rooftop in the city that he's the one she's chosen to spend her life with, he's the one who's living the dream. There's nothing more he could want than what he has in his life right now, yet Kate manages to make things better every goddamn day.

"I'm getting emotional, and it's your fault."

[everyonetakes]

"We're gross, we better immediately stop it," she agrees as she presses the plate of pie into his hands and grins. It's not like she expects any different from Newt, like she's waiting for the day when he turns around and says he's actually been super unlucky in love, but it's still nice hearing him say stuff like this. Especially on a holiday and it's not like either of them are prone to being excessively emotional, but being in this atmosphere, a dinner with all these people who obviously like each other, it's like she kind of can't help it.

"Look, I was feeling sorta mushy because there's this friend of Derek's who clearly likes him and I'm pretty sure Derek likes him, too, but they're like, both totally in denial and I was just thinking how glad I am you never bothered beating around the metaphorical love bush." She knows exactly how that sounds and she's standing by it without question.

"As far as I can tell, more time with you is better." On a logical level, she understands that it isn't like that for everyone, that there are insecurities at play and worries of lost friendship, but she's just never been that type. She'd almost always rather leap before bothering to look and it's lucky for her Newt has been the same way.

[sciencesaggressively]

Holy shit, best wife ever.

There's pie in his hands now and if he were a little less civilized, he'd just pick it up and eat it because that's how goddamn good it smells. He loves this time of year, everything's dinner and desserts, and Newt isn't sure how anyone could claim there's anything better than that. Well, bonus love of his life and friends around him but come on, dinner and desserts.

"Uh, yeah, I'm not the subtle type," he says, though it comes out a little muffled through the bite of pie he's just taken. Glancing around the room, he tries to pick out who he thinks Derek would go for, though it's kind of hard to come to a conclusion when in his mind, Thomas is the obvious choice. Or maybe that's too obvious, who the hell knows? He and Derek aren't really the kind of friends who get super deep and get bro-motional or whatever so Newt has no clue who he's into right now. He is glad, though, that his friend is moving on. The guy deserves to be happy.

Frowning, he looks back at Kate, shrugging his shoulders. "I give up, I don't know who you're talking about. Tell me more, sensei. And if you've already told me before, don't even judge me, okay, I was probably busy trying to lure Jeff with the cat or something."

[everyonetakes]

Finally someone she can appropriately gossip with about those two. "Him," she says, pointing to where Eric is by the pies. "The total cutie who made all the awesome pies we're going to spend the next several hours slowly devouring. His name is Eric, although Derek keeps calling him Bitty and I don't know if that's a nickname for everyone or just a think Derek calls him or what, but we ran into him when we were shopping for Derek's Diwali clothes and they were like, total heart eyes at each other. Derek kept looking at him all dopey and Eric was looking back just as dopey and they kept touching each other and oh my god, can they be anymore obvious?"

She pauses to take a breath, then rushes on, "But you know Derek. Especially after all that stuff where Stiles was pretty crappy to him, he doesn't think he's like, worth it or whatever, which is such total bullshit, but have you ever known anyone as stubborn as him? No. I haven't. Not even me. I'm not even that stubborn. But anyway, so I was like, hey, maybe I'll try Eric and see what he thinks of Derek just to be sure and then he was the same, all 'oh Derek will never think of me that way' and blah blah blah and that's what got me to that whole being super grateful to you part of the evening."

She heaves a sigh, pauses to take a bite of her own pie, then says, "But they like each other. That should be enough, right? People deserve to be happy."

[sciencesaggressively]

Newt's eyes follow where Kate's pointing, and he blinks in surprise as he tries to take this Eric guy in. "He looks about twelve," he says bluntly, glancing skeptically back at Kate. It's not that he's age prejudiced when it comes to relationships, that'd make him a mighty big hypocrite, but Kate doesn't look her age. Which sounds kind of dickish now that he thinks about it, so he makes a mental note to never actually say that out loud, even if he doesn't mean anything bad by it. Or maybe it's just that he doesn't look thirty-six, which is actually kind of nice, and he thinks he's going to start looking at it that way now.

In any case, Newt's pretty sure Derek is smart enough not to date an actual twelve-year-old, so he's not going to spend a whole lot of time worrying about it.

"So okay, they're into each other but they both have too much baggage to do anything about it? Understandable, I guess." He smiles fondly when Kate says people deserve to be happy, and she's obviously right, but it doesn't always work out that way for some people. They're lucky, they hadn't had to do a lot of waiting around to realize they were right for each other, but someone like Derek's who's been messed with one too many times is pretty much guaranteed to have a little more trouble when it comes to love.

"It should be enough," Newt agrees, "but you know what Derek's been through. After all the shit with Stiles, it's gotta be hard to put serious thought into dedicating yourself to someone like that again. Maybe they just need a little more time to let it simmer."

[everyonetakes]

"Well, he's not twelve," Kate shoots back, although she doesn't know exactly how old Eric is, he's old enough to be working in a bar. He does look pretty young, though, but she figures that's just one tiny detail that doesn't actually matter in the grand scheme of things. People are going to think whatever they want to think about whoever they want to think it about.

"Ugh, simmering," she says, making a face at the very prospect. She sort of gets it, because before Newt she had been pretty content with the idea of never dating again since everyone she did date turned out to not be the right person for her or she did stupid shit like trying to sleep with Harley. But at the same time, she totally doesn't get it. They could both disappear tomorrow and she hates the idea that they might regret not having done something.

"I just don't get it," she says with another sigh. "Insisting that you're not good enough for someone. They should both know that anyone should be totally lucky to hook up with them. I swear to Christ, I would totally punch Stiles in the face if he was still here. Super hard." She had liked him, too, but whatever had gone down with Derek hadn't been good, obviously, and she hates that.

[sciencesaggressively]

"You don't get it because you're mouthy," Newt counters, stuffing his mouth with a piece of pie before holding up a finger to signal she should wait before taking that as an insult. "In a good way, obviously. You say what's on your mind, no filter, no nothing, and that works for you. Hell, it works for both of us, I'm pretty sure it doesn't even surprise people that we're married once they meet us."

Maybe they don't seem like the most clear-cut couple of all time, but he thinks that just makes them more awesome. They're not the most predictable people, but they're also not complete assholes. No, they're only assholes some of the time and even then, they don't seem to lose any friends over it. They're just being honest, after all.

"I'm totally on-board with the Stiles punching, though, just don't tell Thomas because awkward. Or maybe you already told him, which pretty much supports everything I've just said. Anyway, point is, Derek's one of those strong, silent types and this Eric guy seems like the shy, silent type. Just a whole bunch of silence, y'know? I mean, maybe I've got the guy pegged all wrong, you'd know better than I do. I just think that if someone wants to get themselves a committed Derek Hale, they're going to have to try a little harder than just talking to him about it. Grand gesture, that kind of thing."

[everyonetakes]

"Nah, I wouldn't punch Thomas. He's a nice guy and it's not his fault they share a face." She doesn't take offense to being called mouthy either, not even a little, and not even from her husband, because she knows she's mouthy. Telling people what she thinks, not feeding them some version of what she's feeling, that's just always been better simply because she doesn't trust people most of the time. It's been easier to keep them at a distance if they think she's an asshole, but with time that's changed. Now it's not about keeping people away, but being honest, and for someone who used to lie a lot, that's kind of a neat prospect.

"So what you're saying is I'm going to have to meddle," she says, heaving a sigh, because she's pretty sure neither of them are going to do any kind of grand gesture without being pushed really hard in that direction. Gentle nudging clearly hasn't worked and Kate wonders if she can find some kind of truth telling serum and then lock them in a closet together. Anywhere else that sort of idea would be totally insane, but in Darrow, she thinks it might actually be possible.

[sciencesaggressively]

"That's like, literally not even at all what I said but if that's what you want to hear, I guess I can't stop you." Newt had learned a long time ago that a Kate with a mission is a Kate to be reckoned with, and he'd much rather work with what she pitches than stand in her way. It's not even that it's just easier that way but most of the time, she turns out to be pretty right with her instincts, even if her matchmaking attempt between Derek and Mindy had seemed a little questionable to him. But hell, it'd come from a place of knowing she has two friends who deserve to be happy, so he can't really fault her for it either.

"Anyway, I'm sure you already have some master plan in the works so come on, lay it on me, I want to hear all your awesome ideas. If anything goes wrong, though, I definitely told you this was a terrible idea and heavily discouraged you, okay? Derek probably still has the shovel I had him get to dig Seymour's grave, I don't want him using it to dig mine next."