Who: Caroline, Lizzie, and Stan When: Backdated to Thursday What: Thanksgiving Where: Their place Rating: PG-13 Status: Closed; G-Doc
While the Thanksgiving celebration would be a bit smaller than last year-they had a few more housemates then-Caroline still looked forward to planning it. Yes, they were all missing people from back home, but Caroline was eager to celebrate what they did have and be thankful for it. Obviously, the history of Thanksgiving was murky at best, but Caroline was determined to focus on the positive aspect of it, even if Stan couldn’t fully partake in one of the most positive aspects: food.
It was okay because Caroline had been sure there was plenty of blood available. She’d also bought two fancy bottles of wine for the occasion. She was willing to let Lizzie even have a glass or two. Just because she knew Lizzie drank without being of age did not mean Caroline wanted to openly support it. At least not a lot of the time anyway.
Caroline placed the last of the food on the table. It was a small feast that featured only the necessities, along with a decent size glass of blood for Stan.
“Guys, dinner is ready,” Caroline beckoned from the dining room.
Lizzie had plans to go see Ty and Tandy later because what kind of grateful girlfriend would she be if she didn’t see her boyfriend and his best friend on Thanksgiving? Meanwhile, it was another holiday without her dad and Josie. At this point, Lizzie was getting used to it. Ok, maybe not used to it, but thanks to Dr. Linda she was learning how to handle it without losing her shit.
At her mom’s call Lizzie super gratefully came to the dining room. “Mom. Please tell him that the Cowboys suck.” Why yes. Lizzie was a football enthusiast. She wasn’t quite as rabid as some fans were, but she had played QB for Salvatore’s after all.
His second Thanksgiving in Madison was shaping up to be a memorable event. It didn’t bother him that there was so much food, food didn’t disgust him or make him envious, it was just something he couldn’t partake of and he was fine with it. If anything, he was happy to see both Caroline and Lizzie enjoy eating.
Following behind Lizzie, Stan was smirking good naturedly. “Never been much of a fan for organized sports, but the Cowboys seem like a decent team.” Which was an absolute lie on his part, but he enjoyed teasing Lizzie. It was after all what Texas Pete would do.
Looking out at the spread, Stan walked over to Caroline, giving her hand a small gentle squeeze briefly before moving to scoot a chair out for her. “Looks amazing, darlin’.”
Being without Josie and Alaric was difficult, but Caroline was doing her best to still make it feel like a holiday. Lizzie was handling it well and Caroline definitely knew she had the good doctor to thank for that. Her daughter was making so much progress and Caroline could not have been more proud of her daughter. As the two entered, the blond shook her head in clear amusement at their football talk.
“No football talk at the dinner table. Call a truce for the time being,” Caroline replied with a playful smile. “But yeah, the Cowboys definitely suck.”
At the feeling of his fingers squeezing hers, she leaned up and pressed a kiss to Stan’s cheek. However, Caroline knew Stan was teasing Lizzie. It was fair game since she did constantly give him a new nickname everyday.
“Thank you.” Caroline gave him a smile as he pulled out her chair and she claimed the empty seat. “Now please, sit down and dig in. Stan, I got you a large glass of blood too.”
“And this is why I don’t get you two.” Lizzie smirked as she took a seat. “Mom’s got taste so this whole slumming it on the cowpoke side of things will never make sense.” No, she will never let these jokes go. Hopefully by now, her mom had explained that if Lizzie went on like this it meant she liked you.
Lizzie reached for her wine to take an experimental sip. “Is this from the casino winery?” She arched a brow as she took another sip. “Tastes like desperation and sweat.”
Stan found that he could speak ‘Lizzieese’ fluently after a while. She was a good kid and Caroline was a damn fine mother, a better parent than Stan had ever been. Both Lizzie and Caroline were lucky to have each other.
Sitting down, Stan eyeballed the large goblet in front of him. “Broke out the good goblet, huh? Holy Grail eat your heart out.” He smirked, watching them both. “Wherever it’s from, kiddo it’s a Thanksgiving miracle.” Looking out across the spread of food Caroline had prepared, Stan shifted slightly in his seat, clearing his throat. “This the part where we give thanks or whatever?”
It had been an incredibly long time since he had actually sat down and celebrated Thanksgiving with people he cared about. He was way out of practice.
“Opposites attract and all that,” Caroline replied playfully.
At this point, Caroline had explained Lizzie to Stan and well, Stan kind of figured it out for himself. He knew by now that Lizzie poking fun at him and her was a sign that she liked Stan. Obviously this was a big deal to Caroline.
Given they were from a small town, Caroline was all about supporting local businesses. Granted the winery in town was relatively new, but she still wanted to give them a shot. Caroline tentatively took a sip from her glass. It wasn’t on the same level as say Salvatore cabernet, but it was still pretty tasty. Of course, there was probably a level of desperation and sweat in there too, but Caroline liked to think of it as promise and hope.
“I thought I would give them a try. Supporting local business and all,” Caroline replied. “Maybe all the desperation and sweat ended up in your glass though. I poured it first.” Yes, she was teasing Lizzie.
Even if Stan could not enjoy the food, she still wanted him to feel like part of everything so of course she broke out the best she had for his blood.
“Well, normally we don’t say ‘Grace’,” Caroline replied. “But I do like to go around the table and have everyone say what they are thankful for this year. I think that is kind of on the same level. But if you want, we can say Grace. If it was part of your Thanksgiving tradition. I don’t mind.”
“I thought all the bad stuff settled to the bottom.” Lizzie smirked. It was actually good wine, but if she didn’t have something to complain about, Lizzie might explode.
She also didn’t do serious emotional crap in front of people who hadn’t changed her diapers. Lizzie gave her mother a serious side eye. “I’ll let the Lone Ranger go first.” Then she hid behind a drink of wine.
Contrary to popular belief, Stan enjoyed the banter between mother and daughter, he knew theirs was a unique relationship though a person’d be hard pressed to find one stronger.
“Fine,” Stan smirked as he lifted his goblet of blood, waiting for the others to do so with their sweaty desperation wine. “I’ll make it quick. Just real thankful for finding friends and family here.. Took another life and dying to find ‘em.” Stan looked at both of them in succession. “Not to get too mushy or throw you off your feed or anything, but y'all are truly the best thing to happen to me in over three hundred years.”
Caroline gave her daughter a playful smirk from behind her glass of wine.
Caroline didn’t expect Lizzie to get emotional. In fact, she figured her daughter would push it off on Stan or herself first. It was okay; if Lizzie joked her way through it, Caroline wasn’t going to complain. The fact that she wanted to share Thanksgiving with Stan and herself was the bigger deal to Caroline anyway. She was glad to see that, despite Lizzie’s incessant teasing, that she and Stan were getting along. It made her happy.
“Aw, Stan.” Caroline leaned over and pressed a tender kiss to his cheek and squeezed his hand. It might have been a tad mushy, but it didn’t matter. Caroline could tell it was all true and that made her very happy.
“Well, kind of in the same sentiment. I’m grateful to have you both here with me. Despite a few hiccups this year and craziness, we’ve had a good time here together. It means a lot to me. I don’t know what I would do without you two.” Caroline offered a smile to Lizzie and then to Stan too.
Lizzie rolled her eyes as she mouthed the words off your feed, then took another long drink of wine. If she had her druthers there would be a second one if today was going to be all sappy. She really needed her dad or better yet, Josie, to keep her from getting maudlin.
“Fine,” she said. “I’m grateful my mom is disgustingly happy even if it is with some OG ranch hand.” Lizzie gave Stan a smile and a wink. She was joking. Mostly. “I am grateful for having Ty in my life.” Someone who treated her like she mattered. Like she wasn’t broken, just bent.
“Cheers,” she ended, lifted her glass then took another drink.