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! ♥]

Comments

[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."