Winter Woes

Jumping out of Stiles' jeep, Bree headed towards the school building and glared at Greenberg as he threw a snowball that hit her in the stomach. Dusting herself off, she pushed open the entrance doors and made her way to her locker.

"Morning Skittles," Jackson said as he approached, frowning when his greeting was met with Bree slamming her locker, "What's up?"

"Nothing," Bree mumbled, offering her best friend a small smile and falling into step beside him as they headed towards their first class.

Taking her seat at the back of the room, Bree retrieved everything that she would need and waited for Mr. Harris to start. Staring out the window as boredom set in, she watched as fresh snow began to fall and allowed her mind to wander.

"Miss. Thompson," Mr. Harris shouted, snapping Bree from her thoughts and pulling her attention back to what he was saying, "Is there something out there that is more interesting than what I am trying to teach?"

"No," Bree replied, biting her tongue to stop herself getting into trouble and shaking her head, "Sorry."

By the time the bell rang for the end of school, Bree just wanted to get out of there and rode with Stiles over to the Hale house. Spotting most of the pack having a snowball fight out front, she rolled her eyes and went straight inside.

"Bree, do you want to build a snowman?" Allison asked as she followed Bree inside.

"No, I don't want to build a fucking snowman," Bree snapped, feeling the pent-up emotions from the day erupt within her, "I want to build a sandcastle, on a beach, in the sun, where there's no fucking snow."

"Woah, Bree," Stiles added, fighting a smile, "Let it go."

Storming off, Bree headed to the study and slid to the floor with her knees pulled tight to her chest. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, she retrieved a book from the shelf to distract herself and sat cross-legged on the floor as she opened it.

She had been lost in an adventure in Wonderland for nearly an hour, when the door opened and she looked up to find Derek watching her. Closing the book, she waited for him to sit next to her and spoke.

"I'm sorry for snapping."

"It doesn't matter, but it's not like you and everyone's worried," Derek told her, "Talk to me."

"I was twelve, when I was in that car crash and nearly died," Bree explained, "It had been snowing for four days straight and I really wanted to go sledding, so my uncle Matt took me. We had so much fun that day, sledding and just goofing off like we always did when we were together."

"Your uncle's a great guy."

"He is," Bree agreed with a chuckle, "It was getting late by the time we started the drive back to town and the snow was gradually getting harder, but everything seemed fine. Then a car swerved to miss an animal and the car in front slammed on its brakes..."

"What happened?"

"Matt tried to stop in time, but our car hit the one in front and ended up on its roof in a ditch. Everything is pretty blurry after that, I remember Matt telling me that everything would be okay and promising that he wouldn't leave me alone," Bree recalled, "All I could see out of the window was the snow that had settled at the bottom of the ditch and... I've hated it ever since."

"I hated anything to do with fire for so long after my family were killed," Derek admitted quietly, "In my head it was the reason they were gone and I'd never see them again, but that fire didn't start itself... that fire was created by Kate Argent and she was the one that gave it purpose. The snow wasn't the reason you crashed, the deer started off the tragic sequence of events that ended up with you in the situation you were in..."

"Then why do I hate it so much?" Bree inquired.

"Do you want to know what I think?" Derek added, earning a nod from Bree and continuing, "You once told me that the crash changed you and I think that the real reason you hate it has nothing to do with the crash itself, I think you hate it because it reminds you of the person you were before it happened."

"Is that the reason you hated fire?"

"It reminded me of the person I was before the fire destroyed everything, sometimes now I still hate it, but then I look around and I realize that things are different," Derek said, "The crash, the fire... they both changed who we are, Bree and those people are long gone, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Don't let the fear of change destroy your opportunity to build memories as the person you are now, because, I for one, kind of like this you and I know that there are eight other people outside that like you just the way you are."

Smiling, Bree pushed herself to her feet and placed the book back on its shelf. Following Derek to the study door, she touched his arm and waited for him to look back at her.

"I like this you too," Bree whispered, kissing his cheek and walking out before he could say anything.

Slipping on her gloves, she walked out onto the porch and swallowed nervously as she made a snowball in her hand. Spotting Jackson sneaking up behind Stiles, Bree launched her snowball in his direction and laughed when it hit him on the back.

Later on, as Bree sat with the pack drinking hot chocolate, she looked over to see Derek watching her and smiled. She missed the person that she had been back before the crash, but that person would have never gotten herself involved with a pack of werewolves and she really couldn't imagine her life without her dysfunctional little family.