Happy Thanksgiving to everyone both in and out of the America. Just a little fic inspired by my lack of Thanksgiving plans this year. Thank you SO much to Maggie for the encouragement and looking it over!
I really appreciate feedback and would love to hear what you think! :-)
(Un)Happy Thanksgiving
"That'll be $26.75," the bored teenaged voice said over the line, "and it'll be there in about forty-five minutes."
"Okay, thanks," Happy mumbled in response, ready to end the call.
"Thanks for choosing Papa John's Pizza," the voice droned on, a yawn in her tone, "and Happy Thanksgiving."
"Uh, yeah, you too," she muttered plaintively before hanging up.
With a sad sigh, Happy looked at the lock screen on her phone as she pulled it away from her ear. Toby had changed it recently to a picture of them, a bright smile on both of their faces, and, even after fighting him for the phone, she couldn't bring herself to change it once it was all said and done - she loved that picture of the two of them and it always made her smile. Until today, that was. Instead, today it just reminded her that she was spending yet another Thanksgiving alone, without her family surrounding her. Another Thanksgiving of pizza, TV, and fiddling with her tools.
Toby: I am so sorry, baby :-(
Her phone lit up with a text from Toby. Happy forced a smile on her face, even though she knew Toby couldn't see her, and typed back a response.
Happy: It's okay :-/ It's not your fault. I just ordered pizza and I can finally catch up on my DVR backlog.
Toby: I promise you, I WILL make it up to you when I get back.
Happy: Stop, it was out of your control. Just stay safe. I love you.
Toby: Love you too, kitten.
She locked her phone and threw it on the couch next to her, kicking her feet up onto the coffee table, her sour mood growing by the second. The gloomy state she was in couldn't be helped; sure, she was used to Thanksgivings alone, she'd had plenty of them before, but not for the last three years, not since Scorpion had really turned into a family. But this year, she was back to being alone, not that she was by choice, unlike all those other years before.
Toby had been called away to Seattle to help with a Homeland investigation there. Just as his plane was about to leave yesterday to fly home, it was grounded due to a sudden winter storm blowing through the area. Any and all flights were cancelled until the weather cleared and it didn't look like that was happening until tomorrow at the earliest.
Paige, always one to put her son first, was taking Ralph to visit Drew and his family in Northern California for the holiday, not that he really wanted to go in the first place. But Paige had decided it would be good for him. Especially since Walter couldn't spend the holiday with them because he and Sylvester were headed back to Ireland to visit his parents. As much as Walter tried to convince Paige and Ralph to go with them instead of to Drew's, she refused; they were still early in their relationship, and while she had met his parents before, it wasn't ever as his girlfriend and she just thought it was too soon.
And Cabe was away on a training exercise with a few other Homeland agents, while her father had started a tradition long ago to spend his holidays in a new place he had never visited before, a way to get his mind off of all that he had lost, so they had plans to celebrate the following week.
She stood up and shuffled towards the kitchen for a drink, allowing herself to mope just a little bit longer. It felt strange being all alone on Thanksgiving again and as much as she pretended, and told Toby, it didn't bother her, it did - more than she thought it would. She was really looking forward to spending the holiday with her husband. Her husband, that thought always brought a smile to her face, even if it had been over a half a year since they officially took the titles of husband and wife. But the smile dropped as soon as she walked into the kitchen and saw the counter covered in Thanksgiving ingredients and she knew if she opened the fridge, it would also be jammed packed with everything they needed to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Toby had insisted on a big dinner for their first Thanksgiving as a married couple, a way to celebrate their new family of two.
Well family of three, Happy thought with a small smile as she looked down to her stomach and ran her hand over her still flat belly. She had just found out and was waiting until it was closer to Christmas to surprise Toby; a Christmas gift unlike any other, one he wouldn't be able to ruin by reading people, as long as the morning sickness held off. But, even if he didn't know, she knew, and their first Thanksgiving as an official family was now ruined by the low pressure system currently making its way across the state of Washington. And that just added to her bad mood.
Happy was reaching for a glass when the doorbell rang. Looking at her watch, she frowned, only fifteen minutes had passed since she ordered the pizza, there was no way it could be there yet. It rang again as she hurried to answer the door, stopping to grab her wallet on the way.
"Hold your horses," she grumbled, undoing the chain, "I don't know how you got- Paige?"
Paige and Ralph were standing at her door, shivering in the unusually cold wind.
"Hey, Aunt Happy," Ralph said with a smile, pushing past her and walking into the apartment.
"Uh, hey buddy. What're you guys doing here? I thought you were out of town," Happy said, the confusion clear on her face.
Paige shrugged off her jacket and took Ralph's, hanging them on a nearby hook, "We were going to go out of town, but then Ralph remembered that he had to build a robot for his robotics course and you had said you would help."
"Yeah, I told him I'd help," she said slowly, her brow furrowing even more, "but it's not due for another three weeks."
"Actually," Ralph spoke up, grabbing a handful of M&M's from the bowl on the coffee table, "the professor just moved up the due date to a week from today."
"How can he do that? Doesn't he know you all have other classes?"
Ralph shrugged, "I don't know. I just know I have to get it done."
"So you want to get started today? On Thanksgiving? Instead of going to see your family?" Happy questioned him, pulling the bowl away from him as he went in for another handful.
"No," Paige spoke up, "I told him he wasn't going to start on it today because-"
"'Today's a day to spend with those you love'," Ralph said mockingly, smirking at Paige.
"Attitude, dude," Happy spoke up, trying to hide her laugh.
"Watch it, Ralphie," Paige warned him.
He just shrugged and sank back into the couch.
"If he can't work on it, then why did you guys come here instead of going up North?" she asked, still trying to play catch up on why they were at her apartment.
"It would've been a waste of time," Ralph said matter-of-factly, "by the time we got up there and then back down here, I would've lost two whole days. So I convinced mom to turn back around."
"And we thought we'd celebrate with you and Toby," Paige said with a smile, "Where is he anyways?"
"Seattle."
Paige's eyes grew wide, "Why is he still in Seattle? I thought his flight got back yesterday."
"Snow storm," Happy said on a sigh, "All flights were cancelled."
"Well, we don't need him, we can have our own Thanksgiving. What have you got started?"
Happy blinked, "Uh, what?"
"Food-wise? What do you already have made?"
"I ordered a pizza, does that count?"
"Happy!" Paige exclaimed, "You can't have pizza for Thanksgiving!"
Ralph laughed as Happy shrugged and muttered, "Have before."
"Well not anymore," Paige said, standing up. "Ralph, go get the sweet potato casserole from the car," she ordered, throwing him the keys, "Happy, follow me to the kitchen. We have some cooking to do."
"We what now?" Happy asked as Paige turned towards the kitchen.
"You heard me, we have to get cooking or it'll be too late."
"Oh, no," Happy exclaimed, jogging after Paige, her brisk walk making her hard to catch, "No, no, no. I do not cook. Toby's the one who does the cooking and sometimes even that turns out badly."
Paige sighed and turned around, placing her hands on her hips, "You passed chemistry, right?"
Happy scoffed, giving Paige a look like she couldn't believe she just got asked that question, "Of course I did. Chemicals and reactions and bonds, that all makes sense."
"Well baking is just like chemistry."
Happy didn't look convinced.
Paige continued on, "For instance, taking baking soda, or as you would refer to it as, sodium bicarbonate. This acts as a leavening agent that, when combined with an acidic ingredient such as milk or brown sugar, releases bubbles of carbon dioxide gas, causing your baked goods to rise. This is the same concept as baking soda and vinegar."
Happy was stunned into silence, unable to do anything but blink. She knew Paige was smart, but had never seen her lecture a genius about something scientific before.
Paige rolled her eyes and turned back to the ingredients in the counter, "So, as you can now see, baking is similar to chemistry. You just have to mix together the right amount of each ingredient to form a mixture, leading to a successful experiment, as long as the steps are followed precisely. Ralph can help you make the pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins, while I get started on the crust for the pumpkin pie."
"But, but-" Happy glanced around the kitchen hoping to find an excuse to get out of what was about to happen. Her eyes landed on Toby's recipe folder. She smiled smugly and folded her arms across her chest, "But we don't even have the recipe for the muffins."
Paige threw a paper her way, "Lies. Toby asked me for the recipe last week."
Happy groaned and hung her head; there was no way she was getting out of it.
"We will just have to do with pizza as the main course though," Paige mumbled to herself, throwing frozen butter cubes, salt, flour, and a few other things Happy wasn't sure of, into a bowl, "The turkey should've been in the oven hours ago."
"Here you go, mom," Ralph said, putting the casserole down on the table.
Paige smiled his way, "Thanks sweetie, now go help Happy with the muffins."
Not even five minutes into the "experiment" both Happy and Ralph were covered in flour, their sides hurting from the constant laughter coming from them.
"There better not be any shells in that batter, you two," Paige warned, placing the crust in the freezer to set.
"There aren't mom," Ralph said with a grin, plopping the pumpkin in with the rest of the wet ingredients.
"Yeah," Happy said with a smirk, slowly stirring the batter, "I think we picked out all the egg shells."
"Happy..."
She shrugged and started pouring some of the dry mixture in with the wet, "I told you, I don't bake or cook or anything along those lines."
"Toby told me you made him a really good cake for his birthday," Ralph spoke up, popping a few mini chocolate chips into his mouth.
Happy shot a glare his way and poured the chocolate chips into the mixture, "That was supposed to stay a secret. It was for a special occasion, so I had to do it. And all I said before was that I don't cook, or bake, not that I don't know how."
"Seriously," Paige sighed, collecting what she needed for the filling of the pumpkin pie, "You mean I lectured you for no reason?"
"No comment," she said with a smirk, pulling out the muffin tins.
"Never underestimate a genius, mom," Ralph said, putting a spoon covered in batter into his mouth.
"Ralph, what have I told you before about that? There are raw eggs in there."
"But it's the best part," he exclaimed.
"Yeah, Dineen," Happy mumbled around her own spoon, "It's the best part. And it's not like Sly is here to tells us the probabilities of getting sick and ruin all the fun."
"No more," Paige gave them a pointed look and added, "For either of you."
"You're no fun," Ralph pouted.
Just as they were about to scoop the batter into the tins, the doorbell rang again.
"I got it," Happy said, wiping her hands on a towel, "It's probably the pizza."
She pulled open the door, but it wasn't the pizza. This time Walter and Sylvester were standing there, each with a bottle in their hands.
"Aren't you supposed to be on your way to Ireland right now?" she questioned, gesturing them inside.
"My father got sick," Walter said.
"You know how much I hate germs," Sly added.
"And it would've been inefficient to go visit them, when my father would be in bed the whole time and unable to visit. So we pushed it back a week and are going next week instead."
"And you came here?"
"Walter!" Ralph yelled out excitedly, running to give him a hug, "You're here for Thanksgiving."
"Yeah, buddy. Although I didn't know you and your mother would be here, but it's a great surprise. Sly and I came because we knew Toby and Happy were having dinner and, instead of spending the day alone at Kovalski's, we decided to stop in. Made more sense that way."
"Of course," Paige said with a smile as she walked out of the kitchen, "it's always about efficiency with you, babe. Will you ever admit it's because they're your family?"
Walter blushed slightly and walked over to Paige, kissing her lightly on the cheek, "Well, yeah, that's why too." There was an awkward pause in the room that Walter quickly filled by lifting up the bottle in his hand, "Uh, it's customary to bring the host a gift, so we stopped and got these."
Sly grinned when Happy sent him a questioning look, "We brought you some sparkling juice. We stopped at the least intimidating convenience store we saw on the way here. We would've brought you wine, but they didn't have any."
"Aw, that's so sweet you two," Paige said, grabbing the bottle from Walter's hand, "Isn't it, Happy?"
"Uh, yeah," she said with a smile onto her face, "thanks."
"Okay, everyone, back to business," Paige announced, "Sly, you're going to start putting together everything for the stuffing."
"On it," he readily agreed.
"Happy, you need to finish the muffins and Walter, you and Ralph will start on the corn pudding."
"What?" he exclaimed, surprised that he was being put to work.
"No arguing," Paige said. Then with a flick of her towel hitting Walter's backside, she added, "Let's go."
But as the group was walking towards the kitchen, the doorbell rang again.
"I swear," Happy complained, heading back to the door, "my apartment has never been this busy in my entire life. It's like Grand Central Station."
"If that's the pizza, Happy," Paige called out from the kitchen, "You can't eat it yet. You'll have to wait until the rest of the food is done."
"But it'll get cold," Happy heard Ralph complain.
"Then we'll just have to heat it back up. Now measure," she ordered him.
Happy smiled to herself, glad with how the day had changed from one of loneliness to one surrounded by her family. She pulled open the door, this time not surprised that it wasn't the pizza guy on the other side, but Cabe and her father.
"Hey Cabe, hey Dad," she said with a smile, "I figured I'd be seeing you two today."
"And why is that?" Patrick asked, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
"Because everyone else is showing up here and it was just a matter of time before you two did."
"Well, my training got done early and I didn't think you and Toby would mind if I stopped by. Is the rest of the team here too?" Cabe asked.
"Yep, right in there," she pointed to the kitchen, "Paige is going all drill sargent on us, so if you don't want to help, I'd stay back."
"I don't mind helping," Cabe grinned, shrugged off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves, "I have this bacon brussel spout recipe that everyone loves."
"I know Paige would love the help," Happy said with a laugh as he walked off. She turned to her father, "Thanks for coming over."
"I've missed too many holidays with you, I shouldn't miss any more. When I realized that, I made my way here. Thankfully I was only an hour away."
"Well I'm glad you're here," Happy said, giving him a hug.
"Where's Toby?" he asked when he pulled back.
A sad smile crossed her face, "Seattle. A snow storm caused his flight back to be cancelled."
"I'm sorry, Happy."
She shrugged, "It's not ideal, but there's nothing I can do about it. I thought I was going to spend the day alone, but then everyone showed up, so it's turning around."
"Well what can I do to help?" he asked her, just at the doorbell was ringing again.
"That's probably the pizza. Can you go put the muffins in the oven while I get that? Just ask Paige for how long."
He nodded with a strange smile on his face and headed towards the kitchen. The doorbell rang again as Happy rushed over to answer it, the smell of pizza meeting her as she opened the door to the pizza man. He didn't look up when she answered and shifted on his feet, pulling at the too small company jacket he was wearing.
"How much is it again?" she asked, grabbing the pizza from the pizza man.
"Uh, $26.75 and a kiss from a pretty lady like you," he said in a low voice.
Happy took a step back, "Excuse me? You want to say that again?"
"Sure," he said in a louder voice, "I said, $26.75 and a kiss."
Slowly he lifted his head and Happy was met with dark, chocolate brown eyes that she fell more in love with everyday.
"Toby?" she breathed, unable to believe her eyes.
"Hi, sugar plum," he whispered, cupping her face in his hands. He leaned down and kissed her gently, giving her time to catch up to what was going on.
"But, but why? How?" she fumbled around for words with a grin on her face, grabbing his wrist as his thumbs gently swept across her cheeks.
"I rented a car and drove all night, 18 plus hours. I wasn't going to miss Thanksgiving with you, Hap. The pizza guy was walking in when I got here, so I paid for the pizza and convinced him to give me the jacket so I could surprise you."
Happy could do nothing but grin up at him as she lifted on her toes to kiss him again, this time taking her time to welcome him home, deepening the kiss to show him just how much she appreciated what he had done for her.
"I love you," she whispered against his lips when she finally pulled back.
"I love you too," he murmured before taking a step back, "I know pizza isn't the greatest Thanksgiving dinner, but what do you say we go celebrate, just you and me like we planned?" He threw his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head as she nuzzled into his chest, happy to have him back home with her.
"Actually, the rest of the team is here," Happy told him as they stepped inside, "And Paige is trying to make it as traditional as possible. But instead of turkey, we're having pizza."
Toby laughed and pulled her tighter to him, "That sounds great too."
Two hours later, after everyone was full from their non-traditional, traditional Thanksgiving dinner, they all gathered in the living room. Happy, from her spot curled up next to Toby on the couch, watched everyone as they laughed and talked. Sylvester, Ralph, and Walter were on the floor playing some card game they had made up with statistics and tricks to which card won - Happy didn't care enough to learn to the rules of the game, but they looked and sounded like they were having fun. Paige was on the opposite end of the couch, talking to Cabe and Patrick, and watching the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" which Cabe had brought over, declaring it "a classic Thanksgiving movie that needed to be watched every year". Happy caught her smiling down at Walter and Ralph, her foot reaching out to playfully mess with Walter's hair, despite his playful protests. Happy was excited for them, glad they had finally worked it out.
She shifted her head and looked up adoringly at Toby, who, after declaring he movie was what he went through to get home to Happy, promptly conked out on the couch, his arm wrapped firmly around Happy. She never knew she could love one person so much or someone could love her like he did. It still scared her at times, the depths of her feelings for him. But she wouldn't give it up for anything. Just as he would do anything for her, as proven time and time again, most recently by driving through the night to be with her, she would do anything for him.
She laid her head down on Toby's chest and smiled as she watched her family. She had never thought she could be this happy, feel this loved. The day, which had started out so horribly, turned into one of the best days in her life thanks to them. When Paige had asked everyone what they were most thankful for at dinner, Happy couldn't come up with a good answer. But now, seeing everyone in her living room, smiling and caring for one another, she knew they were what she was most thankful for, her family. Her smile grew at that thought and it didn't leave her face as she slowly drifted off to sleep herself.
A little while later, Happy was woken to Paige's whispered, "We should get going,".
"Uh, yeah," came Toby's sleepy response, "Let me walk you guys outside."
Carefully, Toby slid out from underneath Happy and gently laid her head back down on a pillow he grabbed from a nearby chair. She whimper quietly at the loss of him and she could almost hear the loving smirk form on his face as he smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead.
"Thanks for coming over," he whispered to the team as they got their coats on.
"It was fun," Sly spoke up, "and no turkey to worry about undercooking."
Everyone laughed at that remark.
"I appreciate it, though, more than you know," Toby said.
"We get the idea," Paige said.
As the door opened, Happy called out in a husky voice from her spot on the couch, "Ralph, don't forget to come up with some plans for that robot. We're starting tomorrow."
"Oh, right," Ralph's voice squeaked, "The, uh, robot. Uh, see you tomorrow."
When the front door shut, Happy got up and made her way to the kitchen to start cleaning up. She got lost in her thoughts about the day while washing the dishes that she didn't hear Toby sneak up behind her. She startled when his hands wrapped around her waist and he kissed the side of her neck.
"I'm most thankful for you this Thanksgiving, baby," he whispered against her ear, kissing it gently.
"You better be," she smirked, letting herself lean into him.
"So this turned out to be a pretty good Thanksgiving," Toby commented, not letting her go.
She nodded, "Yeah, it really was."
"I'm still so sorry it wasn't just the two of us like we planned though."
"I didn't mind. Isn't the holiday about being with your family? And there's always next year."
Toby grinned as he kissed her shoulder, "Yeah, there's always next year. But who knows? Maybe it'll be a family of three next year?" he asked in a hopeful voice.
Happy bit her lip to keep her smile from giving her away, "Yeah, maybe."
Toby held her for another moment longer before letting her go. They worked in a familiar silence for awhile, her washing the dishes, while he dried and put them away.
"Thank you, Doc," Happy whispered suddenly, breaking the silence.
"Uh, you're welcome. But for what?" he asked, confused.
She set down the dish and dried her hands, then took a step towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I know what you did."
Toby wrapped his own arms around her and looked down at her, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Resting her chin on his chest, she looked up and met his eyes, "I know you called everyone and convinced them to come over here so I wasn't alone today."
His eyes widened slightly and small smile pulled at his lips, "Oh, I did, did I?"
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
He laughed lightly, "I'll let you believe whatever you want to believe, honey bunches. I love you."
He leaned down to kiss her lovingly.
"Love you too, Doc," she whispered, kissing him again.
When they pulled apart, there was a twinkle in Toby's eye and he winked at her.
"So, do you have anything you need to tell me about a future family or should I wait until I open my Christmas gift and act surprised?"