Author: Karen
Rating: YTEEN
Disclaimer: Own nothing. Not even a Pilgrim.
Summary: Holiday Fluff
Author's Notes: AH! Someone help me! Someone turned on the fluff generator and I can't get it to turn off!! AHHHH!
Max Evans pushed out his lower lip, imitating his small daughter’s pout, as he pulled the blankets up to her chin.
“Why do I have to sleep in Justin’s room?” Sarah pouted.
“Because Grandpa and Grandma Parker are sleeping in your room tonight,” Max explained.
“Why can’t they sleep in the spare room?” she countered.
“Because Grandpa and Grandma Evans are in there,” he replied patiently.
“Why are they here?” came a voice from the other side of the room. Sarah’s twin brother, Justin.
Max turned to regard him. “Because tomorrow is Thanksgiving. They came to celebrate with us.”
Sarah’s brow furrowed. “What’s Thanksgiving?”
Max drew in a breath and looked into her dark, round eyes. Both of his children had dark hair and dark eyes, their features an amalgamation of his and Liz’s Parker’s genes. When he looked to the other bed, he saw his son sitting up on his elbows, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.
They were both so smart that sometimes Max forgot they were barely five years old, not even having started Kindergarten yet. He held out a hand to Justin, who broke into a wide grin and jumped from his bed. Max scooped him up and tucked him beneath the covers with his sister.
“A long time ago,” Max began, “there were these people who got on a ship.”
“What kind of ship?” Sarah asked. “A spaceship?”
Max laughed at the irony of her innocent question. “No, sweetie, a ship that floats on the water. With big, white sails, called the Mayflower. These people – they called themselves Pilgrims - had to travel all of the way from England to our country.”
“Where’s England?” Justin asked, his eyes identical to his sister’s.
“Far, far away,” Max explained. “A whole different country, all of the way across the ocean.”
Justin’s eyes were appropriately round as he tried to fathom what that distance equated to.
In the hallway, Liz heard Max’s voice in story-teller mode and paused outside of the door, out of sight of the room’s occupants.
“So, life on the sea wasn’t easy,” Max continued. “Many people got sick.” He frowned. “Many people didn’t make it to the new land.”
“What happened to them?” Sarah asked, deeply enthralled with the story.
“They went to heaven,” Max said carefully. “They never got to see their new home. But there were people who did make it. They landed their ship way over near where Aunt Maria lives.”
“Wow!” Justin breathed. “That’s a long way away!”
Max nodded, smiling at his son. “Yes, it is. And when they landed their boat, they didn’t know where they were or how to survive here.”
Liz gave a sad smile, realizing that Max had once experienced the exact same feeling.
“So, they got off their boat and came across some people who already lived here.”
“Who?” Sarah asked anxiously.
“They thought they were in India, so they called the people Indians. But they were really Native Americans, people who had always been here.”
“Like Mr. Whitefeather at the hardware store!” Justin chimed in.
“Exactly,” Max laughed. So smart, both of his children. “And these natives fed them and helped them learn to survive here, so far away from their home. Because they’d survived their long journey across the ocean and had been fortune enough to find someone to help them, they decided to make a holiday. One day out of the year where they would feast and give thanks for everything that was good in their lives.”
Sarah’s brow was wrinkled again. When she did that, she looked very much like her mother. Of the twins, she was the quizzical one, always trying to put logic to things. “But why do we have a holiday? We didn’t ride in a ship.”
In the hallway, Liz clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh as she imagined Max trying to cover his expression on that comment.
“That’s true, Sarah,” he agreed. “But we still have things to be thankful for, don’t we?”
“You mean like Sparky?” Justin offered, referring to the terrier mix that had wandered into their back yard over the summer and had never left.
“Sure, like Sparky,” Max agreed, internally reluctant. Sometimes the dog was a pain, but he knew it made his son happy.
“And all of my Lego’s?” Justin continued.
“Sure.”
“And my Barbie dolls?” Sarah asked.
“Yep, your Barbie dolls, too,” Max said.
“Daddy? What are you thankful for?”
Max looked down at his children and wondered how they couldn’t know how grateful he was for them. In a way, he was a Pilgrim – thrust onto a ship to flee a hostile homeland, crashed onto an unknown land, at the mercy of the natives. If anyone had reason to be thankful, it was him.
“Well, Sarah, I’d say that I’m most thankful for you and Justin and Mommy,” he said.
Liz leaned back against the wall of the hallway and bit her bottom lip, a slight sting of a tear in her eye. Max’s words were so sweet and honest that she immediately felt a stirring of emotions.
“Yeah, Mommy!” Justin agreed. “I’m thankful for Mommy! Oh - and you, too, Daddy!”
Max laughed. “Well, as long as you’re happy for Mommy first, Justin.”
The boy giggled.
“I’m thankful for you and Mommy, too!” Sarah chimed in, afraid of being left out. “And for Grandpa and Grandma!”
“I know you are,” Max agreed. “So, the two of you remember to think of all of the things you’re thankful for tomorrow as we’re saying grace before dinner, okay?”
They both nodded eagerly.
In the hallway, Liz quickly wiped her eyes and hurried to their room, knowing Max would be saying goodnight to the children soon.
In the bedroom, Max leaned forward and kissed first his daughter and then his son on the cheek.
“Can I sleep here?” Justin asked, the distance back to his bed seeming wider than the ocean.
“I suppose,” Max relented. “But just for tonight. Sleep tight, kids. I love you.”
“I love you too, Daddy,” they said in unison.
Max rose and crossed the room, stopped at the door as he flipped off the light. A wedge of light filtered in from the hallway and he could see that both of their eyes had started to close already. He smiled to himself, remembering climbing into bed with Isabel when he wasn’t much older than they were.
Still smiling, he closed the door behind him and quietly walked to his own room. On the way, he passed the spare room and Sarah’s room, the rooms that held both his and Liz’s parents. Tomorrow, Isabel would come for dinner, as would Michael. As a surprise for Liz, Max had arranged for Maria to fly in and be with them – he was almost bursting with the urge to tell her, but knew that the surprise would be worth his anxiety in the end.
As he slid into his bedroom, he found Liz propped against the headboard, one leg bent at the knee. He drew in a quick breath – she simply grew more beautiful every day.
“I heard the history lesson, professor,” she teased.
Max laughed lightly and shut his door quietly. “Well, inquiring minds wanted to know. How did I do?”
“Sounded pretty good to me – especially the part where you said you were thankful for me.” She gave him a bemused smirk as he came to stand beside the bed.
“I am thankful for you,” he said as he looked down at her. “Every day.”
Liz’s eyes softened. “As I am thankful for you,” she agreed. Then she reached up and grabbed his shirt. “So why don’t you come down here and let me show you my gratitude?”
Max laughed lightly and fell onto the bed with her. Before he lost himself in her completely, he realized that he had more to be thankful for than he’d ever imagined he would. He had a beautiful family, a beautiful wife. His children were healthy, and he and Liz made enough money to keep them from wanting. Sarah and Justin would never know the pain of wondering who they were or where they came from.
Because long ago, a Pilgrim climbed aboard a ship, traveled across a vast distance, and came to rest on a large rock. That in itself was a miracle.
But the true wonder of the event, the thing for which Max would always be eternally grateful, was that he met one of the natives. And she taught him how to survive.
The End
~~~~~~
Wow, that's the shortest thing I've ever posted...
Anyhoo, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!
And to all of my non-American friends, may you have many blessings and many reasons to be thankful!~Karen (desperately trying to turn off the fluff machine)