Soli Deo gloria
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Flash. Or A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Or Google.
Let's pretend this whole 'Dr. Alchemy' business isn't taking up all our heroes' time, and let's give them a moment to relax. :)
Joe looked over his transformed house with big eyes. "You know, I'm still not sure what's going on. I know I'm like that most of the time when it comes to science stuff, but unless this is somehow science too," and he looked at the TV set up with the A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD like it was a foreign object, "I don't know a whole lot about anything that's going on."
"We're going to celebrate a made-up holiday. That's all," Barry said. Hands in his pockets, he shrugged at Joe with an innocent grin on his face.
Joe blinked. "A made-up holiday. We don't need another holiday right now. Thanksgiving was yesterday. I have a huge turkey carcass and about ten pounds of leftovers in my fridge to prove it. We made a lot! I thought you needed to eat a lot to keep up with your super-fast metabolism! Why do I have so little fridge space?"
"Joe, I ate something like four pounds of food yesterday. I ate so much, I got full. Apparently I do have a limit," Barry said apologetically.
"I know. Still, I thought between you and Wally, and Iris and me, and Cecile and her daughter, we could've polished off a little more," Joe said. He looked at his dining room table with something like horror in his eyes. It was covered in food. None of it was any of his Thanksgiving food, which he and Iris and Barry had slaved over yesterday; no, this food was straight out of some kind of cartoon instead of his fridge.
"Speaking of Cecile," Iris said, coming in from the kitchen, "how'd she like celebrating Thanksgiving with us?" Iris looked very pretty for having been up all night scavenging the malls with Barry, Cisco and Caitlin (Black Friday shopping was so much easier when you had a boyfriend who was the first person to grab the best offers—a much-needed perk to having an ability that came with numerous cons—and convicts, and super-villains); her hair, freshly washed and dried, fell over a dark blue blouse. She also carried in a giant red bowl full of jellybeans the colors of the rainbow.
Joe pointed at the bowl as she set it on the table. "What's with the jellybeans?"
"We're celebrating Friendsgiving, Dad. We have to do it right. To do it right means having jellybeans on the table," Iris explained.
Joe looked from his daughter to Barry with so much confusion. Was this some kind of millennial thing ol' Poppa Bear just couldn't understand? What—what were they doing?
"There is Charlie Brown on my TV when we just watched it yesterday, jellybeans and other snack foods on my dining room table, and there is a knock on my front door. What is happening? And I want a straight answer from one of you," Joe pointed between one of them, "and I'd like it now."
Wally came zooming down the stairs as fast as lightning (Barry was so proud of his little brother) and opened the door. "Happy Friendsgiving!" he said cheerfully, welcoming in the mini crowd on the front stoop.
"Wait, Wally's in on this?" Joe demanded to know.
"We're all in on this, Joe," Barry said calmly.
"I'm sorry, did no one tell you what we're doing?" Iris asked, a little curious, a little concerned.
"No little birdies whispered in my ear, though I wish they did," Joe said.
"Barry, I thought you were going to tell him," Iris said, giving her boyfriend a bump with her hip, saying silently, Rude.
"Nobody told me to tell him," Barry said defensively.
"Um, yeah, I did," Iris said.
"When did you tell me to tell him?"
"Remember when we came home from Black Friday shopping, and we sat on the couch, and I was exhausted and you were still like a little kid on a sugar high?"
"Yeah, what about that?"
"I told you right before I fell asleep on your shoulder." Iris raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe you . . . mumbled . . . ?" Barry scratched the back of his neck.
Joe grunted, feeling like a third wheel and very much left out of the conversation.
The sound of guests greeting each other and Wally came from the living room. Barry said, "I'm sorry, Joe. Come in here; I think Cisco can explain it best."
Iris nodded, agreeing with him. "After all, it was his idea," she added. Her annoyance with Barry defused like a bomb when he kissed the top of her head and whispered, "That was totally my fault. Sorry, babe."
"It's okay," she said, giving him a brilliant smile as they three joined the accumulating crowd in their living room.
Hugs were exchanged, and Joe pretended for a little while that he totally got what Cisco meant when he said, "Happy Friendsgiving! Are you excited, Joe?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure," he said.
Caitlin waved at him and said, "Happy Friendsgiving, Joe."
Joe waved back, and his hand stopped quickly when he saw three people he never thought he'd see in the same room together. "Jessie? Harry, and HR? All here, together, right now, at my house?" he managed to stammer.
"Ah, Joe West. You're not an entirely unwelcome friendly face," Harry Wells said calmly. He shook Joe's hand.
"Joe! Gosh, I am so excited to be included here. You know, we spend all our days together at work, but it's so great that we can all socialize outside out of office hours! A team is made of people who trust each other, and who trusts each other more than friends?!" HR wouldn't stop talking. He shook hands with Iris and gave Barry a big bear hug and squeezed him so hard he actually scrambled for breath.
Joe looked between HR and Harry. Harry shrugged. "Cisco sent a message through the multiverse to us, inviting us here. Once we arrived and were about to leave for your house, we realized that we couldn't leave him alone in that building. He'd go verifiably insane, and probably destroy items around the building worth millions' of dollars out of pure curiosity and boredom. I elected that we bring him along on this visit for everyone's sake and my sanity, and the vote was unanimous."
"Ah, so when I want to knock him out later this evening—which will probably be in about five minutes if he doesn't shut up—I can blame everyone who came from S.T.A.R. labs?" Joe said.
Harry nodded with a small bow. "It was a democratic vote. All will share the blame."
"Okay, good." Joe's eyes next fell on Wally and Jessie. Oh, no. Oh, no—this was bad. Leave these two alone together for two seconds without anyone paying any attention to them and they were already making googly-eyes at each other. No, this wouldn't work at all. No multiverse relationships could happen. Joe wouldn't allow it. Imagine the difficulties and troubles this would bring with them—all those hormones combined with the ever-pounding, ever-zooming speed force running like mad through their veins. Add their getting-into-dangerous-situations as they tried to emulate Barry (to everyone's great annoyance—really, the stubbornness shared by these two new speedsters was as stuck in their systems as their speed) and super-villains and meta-humans and apparently Dr. Alchemy and whoever knew what the heck was rocking Earth-2's world—nope, any romantic relationship between the two of them would only end in injuries and maybe even death.
Plus, potential for having Harry Wells as an in-law? UGH! Joe would use his last breath to prevent what might be inevitable. He had to. He was a father. It was his job.
Joe quickly came between them, giving Jessie a huge hug, to her wide-eyed surprise. "Jessie! How you doin'? How's Earth-2, your studies, your speed?"
Unbeknownst to Joe, Jessie gave Wally a look over his dad's shoulder that said, 'Stop grinning, you idiot, and help me!'
"Um, everything's going okay, Joe," she said, muffled (wow, did Joe give squeezing bear-hugs—breathing became a conscious effort when one was hugged sincerely by Joe West). He released her and she took a nice, long deep breath. "I'm taking courses at the university. I'm helping Dad at S.T.A.R. labs. I'm working on harnessing the full powers of my speed."
Wally's eyes lit up with excitement at this subject, and Joe saw that he had to take action to prevent any great, provoking discussion about it. He swung himself between the two kids, one arm around each's shoulders. He squeezed them tight, covering up his frequenting parental cautiousness with a big grin as he said, "That's great! Great! Wow, it's great to see everyone back together again!"
"Yeah, sure is." Cisco passed a glare over at Barry's direction. Unfortunately, he caught it.
"Cisco!" Joe pounced on him before he could kill Barry with the daggers he kept in his eyes. "Tell us about the festivities!"
Cisco waved Joe's invitation off. "Nah. It was just an idea. Let Iris tell it. All I did was mention it."
"No, Cisco, this was all your invention. Tell everyone about it, please," Iris said.
Caitlin gave Cisco an encouraging smile. "Come on, Cisco."
That little word from Caitlin made him sigh and decide to do it. After all, in the end, Cisco Ramon never threw away an opportunity to have everyone's eyes on him as he got to present a new invention. "Okay, here it goes. So yesterday, we were all good family members and went to our parents' houses for Thanksgiving." He looked blankly ahead. He'd spent a very quiet Thanksgiving with his parents and numerous extended Mexican relatives. Usually Ramon family gatherings were loud affairs, full of chatting, joking, and general good humor, with the event of a good fight or two (you can't have Thanksgiving without a little family drama). This Thanksgiving, however, everyone still had the black shadow of Dante's death hanging over them. All was quiet. The food was barely eaten. The wishbone broke into three equal parts. And there was an empty seat at the table.
Caitlin got that. She ate dinner across from her mother. They'd talked a little more since she'd revealed her icy Elsa powers to her mother. Most of their discussion centered around them, how they worked, how they consumed her soul when they were used. It was all the elder Dr. Snow wanted to talk about. It was all that Caitlin could do to swallow her food and smile and not use her powers on her mother; she just wouldn't stop talking about them. And the more that Caitlin talked about them, as her mother forced her to, the more she thought about them, and the more she wanted to use them. And she so did not want to use them.
Cisco sighed, 'got over it', and continued, "But I was thinking, 'Hey, there's no one else I'd rather spend Thanksgiving with than my friends.'" This time, he made a point to not look at Barry. Barry sighed a little, but said nothing. "So I came up with a holiday where you spend Thanksgiving with your friends. See, one with your family and the yearly drama, and then a Friendsgiving, where it's only friends and fun."
HR raised a hand.
Cisco sighed. "Do they not have Thanksgivings on your Earth, HR? Do I have to explain regular Thanksgiving to you?" Did the man not have access to Google at S.T.A.R. labs? Like, really? He probably should've asked this question a few days ago before Thanksgiving.
"I know what Thanksgiving is, Cisco. We have them on my Earth, though usually in May, because of the Mayflower. Anyway, what I was going to ask was, does that mean that you prepare two Thanksgiving dinners? I know yesterday people ate turkey and cranberries and stuffing; does that mean we're going to have that all over again?"
Joe whispered off-hand to Barry, leaning over an annoyed Wally, "Is this all a ploy to get rid of my leftovers?"
"No, Joe."
"Dang it."
"No, it does not," Cisco said, and he looked excited as he continued: "The most famous Thanksgiving, besides the actual first Thanksgiving between the pilgrims and the Indians back in 1621, is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Charlie Brown, somewhat panicked about having three uninvited friends showing up for Thanksgiving, made a special Thanksgiving for them, which he shared with all of his friends."
Jessie raised a hand. Cisco pointed to her like a professor giving a big seminar being asked an important question by one of his students. "So you're basically calling the Thanksgiving Charlie Brown threw for Peppermint Patty and her friends a Friendsgiving, because it was a Thanksgiving for his friends," she said slowly, waiting for him to indicate that she was correct.
Cisco beamed. "Exactly. Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving is a Thanksgiving for friends, hence the cleverly-thought-up name."
"But didn't he then take all his friends to his grandmother's? Is that Thanksgiving considered Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving, since his friends were there? Also, Sally his little sister was at both. Does she nullify Friendsgiving at all by being related to Charlie Brown instead of being his friend?" Jessie wondered.
Harry looked pleased, seeing his daughter question the technicality of names without his prompting. Ah, she was a quick thinker.
Cisco frowned, not looking pleased to have his idea dissected by Harry's daughter. "Any more questions?" he said loudly, to cover the whole crowd.
HR raised a hand, and Cisco shook his head. HR looked a little pathetic, but Cisco held his hand up; he wasn't in the mood.
"So, Cisco, what are the plans for the evening?" Iris said, in an attempt to keep Cisco from shushing up more guests.
"So, the plans!" He clapped his hands together. "The plans are to, A., eat from the vast array of food from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, all authentically prepared by Iris, who made a lot." His eyes went wide as he looked over the dining room table. He'd never seen such a big buffet of popcorn, jellybeans, pretzel sticks, and so many stacks of toast in his life. "I don't think I'll ever eat toast after this."
"Well, Barry helped me. We went grocery shopping together and put it together this afternoon. We're thinking that since this is the first celebration of Friendsgiving, we'd set the precursor for ones to come by staying traditional. Though, I'm thinking next year of mixing it up, like buying specialty jellybeans, and OH! I can get some rosemary bread for the toast, and make a nice herb butter—"
Barry put his hand on her shoulder. "Let's get through this buffet first before Joe has a heart attack."
Joe waved people to the table, saying over the crowd of moving heads to Barry and Iris, "I second that."
"Then, THEN!" Cisco said over the milling, chatting crowd, "we're going to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and do our best impressions, and share memories, and you know. . . ignore Cisco. Yeah, sure, let's do that."
Harry gave Cisco a firm pat on the shoulder. "Let's not do that." He jerked his head to where Joe had their two kids under firm parental guidance. "Let's make more memories, and maybe write a Thanksgiving song. HR wouldn't stop talking about that on the way over, as you recall. There are a few of those on Earth-2 and Earth-19, but this Earth is sadly lacking. Besides, I hear Barry's got a voice on him."
"Look at Barry, full of speed and good looks and magical singing talent and the ability to get away with everything. Isn't he to be envied?" Cisco said sarcastically.
Harry gave him a look, and then sought Caitlin and Joe for some sort of explanation. Both shook their heads, as if saying, 'We know. Now's not the time, though.'
Jessie and Wally, Joe distracted, exchanged a look. Jessie cracked a smile, which only made Wally break into a grin too. Oh, she'd gotten prettier while she was gone. Oh, and his father's arm was getting tighter on his shoulders. His nonverbal cues spoke louder than any fatherly words could. Hands off her. If Harry knew these words, he would've seconded them again and again.
A strange silence fell over the bustling group of friends as they took up plates and went up and down the buffet. A sense of thankfulness, but to whom? Someone they never knew but was there just the same? To each other? A combination? They all had different answers.
As in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, everyone sat in different kinds of chairs. The sofa and sofa chairs, a folding chair Iris pulled out of the closet, the rocking chair from the front porch, and an old college beanbag were pulled out for the occasion.
Harry leaned in to say quietly to Caitlin, "So, Ronnie's presence is missed here today."
Caitlin froze, stiff. "Yes, it is."
"I heard that Dr. Stein was off seeing the world and all of time. I can feel their empty presences," he said.
Caitlin nodded, a little sadly now. Harry hadn't brought up Ronnie out of any cruelness of heart, but still; she'd forgotten about him, tried, at least, to forget about him. Fire and ice just didn't mix, right? She didn't want to cling to her past; she didn't want to dig up problems that would only agitate her icy powers. Besides, he was gone. There was no point in trying to remember someone who she loved who was gone. Not while it ruined her life now.
HR looked curious about his jellybeans, and engaged Cisco in a hyper discussion about this holiday on Earth-1 and could just anyone make up a holiday? What inspired him? See, he was an idea guy, and he liked knowing how other people thought of other stuff, you know?
Cisco looked like he would rather sit next to Barry than HR. He reached forward from his sunken-in beanbag and played the movie. "Listen up, people! It's the only Thanksgiving cartoon special like, ever made. Have some respect."
Barry leaned against the couch, for once at rest. I mean, he was ready at one beep from his phone to go zooming after a meta-human, and hey, any activity regarding Dr. Alchemy could send him sailing out the front door in his suit faster than everyone else could blink, but he was pretty much an object at rest. It wasn't a state he often found himself in; he balanced his plate on his lap (it was loaded with pretzels; carb up!) and rested one arm on the armrest and his other around Iris's shoulder. She leaned up on his side, a big bowl of popcorn mixed with jellybeans in her hands. "If this is what kills me," she said, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth, "I'll die happy."
Barry enjoyed the fact that all he had to do to see his girlfriend's beautiful face was tilt his head. He studied her silently; a small smile grew on his face absentmindedly, like it grew without his being aware.
"What?" Iris stopped being casual; she straightened. "Do I have something in my teeth?"
"Nah," Barry said quietly. His smile grew just the same. "You're beautiful."
Iris didn't know what to say; she just smiled and pressed a kiss on his face, half on his lips, half on his cheek.
"Ugh! Some of us are eating!" Wally joked. He sat on the carpet, leaning his back against the ottoman.
"Well, we were," Jessie said. She sat, cross-legged, next to him. She set her plate down beside her. "But now. . ."
Iris threw popcorn at them with a laugh; Barry grinned; Jessie and Wally pretended to defend themselves by putting up their arms as shields. They failed epically. Popcorn flew between their fingers, hitting their faces as soft as snowflakes.
Joe sat next to Iris; he barely noticed his elder kid's PDA. He sat on the edge of the couch and took bites of dry toast without even thinking about it; his eyes were planted on Wally and Jessie like he was on a stakeout. One little move, one hand casually sitting on the other's leg, and they were gone. They were going to be wrenched apart and sent to go sit next to the other person's dad. Seriously. Joe's eyes were like an eagle.
Cisco huffed loudly just to get everyone's attention. He didn't. Still, he said loudly, "Hey, SOME OF US are trying to watch this classic!"
Caitlin leaned out from the rocking chair and patted Cisco's shoulder. "It's okay, Cisco. We're watching."
Cisco grumbled to himself as he sat back in his chair. He sank farther down into the depths of the beanbag like he was being pulled by a lasso around the waist down into the deep dark depths of beanbag bedding. His legs stuck straight out. He didn't try to fix his position, though. He just sourly sat like a man being swallowed by a too-small chair and ate popcorn, dry toast, jellybeans, and salty pretzel sticks.
It was a good viewing (Barry didn't mention that he and Iris and Joe had turned the channel to it after Cecile and her daughter left yesterday, too tired and full to be removed from the couch) and a good evening.
Caitlin smiled and laughed at jokes made by both Harry and HR. She didn't have Ronnie, but she had some good friends—even ones she hadn't expected to be great friends with. At one point, Harry stopped his smooth sarcastic joking and said, "So, Cisco?" And she'd sighed and said, "Barry, and time-traveling—," and Harry just rolled his eyes, held up his hand, and said, "I'm done. Say no more."
Aside from Barry, Cisco talked to everyone and occasionally smiled, though it looked foreign on his usually boisterous face.
Iris was perfectly comfortable leaning against Barry's shoulder. Her eyes passed over her concerned father to Harry giving warning signs to Wally and Jessie (whoever made eye contact with him got a very severe nonverbal warning. He and Joe, in the end, were too much alike). Jessie and Wally exchanged a look like they were secretly amused by both their fathers. Iris smiled and leaned against Barry's plaid shirt, playing with his fingers around her hand; she was quietly very happy.
The evening was rounded out with seconds, and thirds, and fourths ("I swear, pretzels usually don't taste this good," Caitlin said in defense) and a grand toast led by Joe, and echoed by everyone, even Cisco: "To Thanksgiving, Friendship, and Friendsgiving!"
HR started to write a Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving song; he pointed out several people to carry along lyrics as he sang them—they refused to, even Harry. Except Barry. He proved the fact about his having a good singing voice true by giving out a sample. Everyone praised him for it: "Barry, I didn't know you could sing like that!" Caitlin gushed.
"I have known you for forever, and you're just now revealing this to me? As your girlfriend, I feel betrayed." Iris snuggled up to him. "Still, maybe I should get you a guitar for Christmas. . ."
This was Cisco's cue to go. "Okay, I'm going."
"I guess it's time we head out." Jessie looked reluctantly from her dad to Wally, with pleading in her eyes.
"I'm so glad I don't have to go. I'm just going to sleep here." Iris closed her eyes and snuggled closer to Barry.
"If only we all had that option," Caitlin teased.
"Let's be glad we don't," Cisco said, grabbing his jacket.
Barry stood up hurriedly; he didn't want Cisco to leave in an annoyed mood. Iris groaned and leaning her head against the couch, she waved a hand at him. "Play host for me, Barry. I'd get up if I could."
"We know you would, Iris. Thank you for the lovely evening," Harry said. Iris gave him a wave in response. He then offered a hand down to his daughter, giving her a look in her eyes that said, 'Take the hand and come along. Really, arguing isn't going to get you anywhere.'
Jessie looked at Wally, his face only a few inches away from her. No, she wasn't that daring . . . was she? Well, she'd love to have a quiet ride home through the rift. But he was so cute. . . So she split the decision and just gave Wally a red kiss on the cheek. She held it a second and felt his face grow warm before she took her dad's hand and got to her feet, grinning like an idiot.
Harry just rolled his eyes and said, "Come along, Jessie." That wasn't that much harm. He gave Wally a pointed look. "Good night, Wally."
Wally could barely look at him, or say more than, "Good night." He was too dazed, too much in shock. Running had never given him such a rush like that. She'd kissed him once before, but this . . . this had too much meaning in it, and it lasted longer. He could only sit and stare at the couch, too stunned to do anything else.
Joe hadn't seen the kiss, thank goodness, or else he would've had a heart attack. He was at the door with Barry, guaranteeing that everyone got their coats and hats and scarves, shaking hands and hugging and thanking them all for joining them. He even got HR to shut up for two seconds about the evening to say 'good night'. For being jumped with it last minute, it'd gone surprisingly well. Joe didn't think it at first, but he might even kinda like it.
Barry drew Cisco aside with a wiggle of his finger. A few steps off from the front door, Barry rubbed his neck and looked at Cisco. Cisco, hands stuck in his pockets, said, "What is it, Barry? I gotta go. It's getting late. I gotta go let Harry and Jessie back to their earth before I can get home. What—what do you want to say?"
"Cisco, I know things between us haven't been all that great lately—"
Cisco rolled his eyes. "Understatement of the century—"
"—and I'm sorry. I don't know what I can do to make things better."
"There's bringing my brother back, but even after all the crazy things we've seen this year, I don't think that'll happen," Cisco said sourly.
"Cisco," Barry sighed, "when we were watching Charlie Brown, I noticed something like a parallel. Charlie Brown was just living his life like normal, and then Peppermint Patty swooped in and made her mark, giving him no choice in the matter. She did something to him that he wasn't expecting or wanting, and in the end, she realized that she'd made a mistake. And I kinda feel like Peppermint Patty right now."
Cisco was quiet for a moment, thinking. "You're drawing parallels between us and a children's cartoon?" He shook his head. "Man, I've rubbed off on you." He sighed. "No, man, you don't get to compare an uninvited guest to Thanksgiving to my brother being dead. They aren't the two same mistakes; they aren't even on the same level as each other." Cisco couldn't look him in the eye. "Good night."
Barry watched all the guests leave and sighed as he sat on the armrest of the couch. "So much for fun and friends." All evening, all he wanted was a smidgen of his old friendship with Cisco back—just for the night, in the spirit of the holiday. But, apparently you can get snubbed by a friend on Friendsgiving.
Joe close the door after waving at all the guests and rubbed his hands together as he looked over his kids: Barry, all sad-faced; Iris, down for the count for the next three days; and Wally, who was in the mood to skip around the house and run a few hundred miles from excitement.
"Well, how about I go turn on some Christmas music?" Then Joe saw Barry's sad, regretful face. "Barry, what's wrong?"
"I've said sorry so many times to Cisco that it's lost all its meaning to him. I can never make it up to him, in his eyes," Barry said with remorse, waving a hand helplessly.
Iris rubbed his back. "He'll come around, Barry. He knows that you never meant to hurt him."
"I never meant to hurt anyone, and look at all the sorrys I've said," Barry said.
"Barry, you can't keep beating yourself up like this." Joe gave him a pat on the back. "Cheer up. We just had Friendsgiving, which I think went over well."
"I think we'll repeat it again next year," Iris said. She groaned and heaved herself up. "Come on, babe. Let's clean up. Believe me, Barry, it was a success. He's just sad, is all."
"Yeah. I know." Barry sighed and let Iris take his hand and lead him to the dining room table to begin cleaning it up.
Joe folded his arms and looked out the window at the cars pulling away. Then he caught sight of Wally's stupid grin. "What's up with you?" he said suspiciously.
Wally got up slowly, still looking like someone had banged him in the head.
"Um, nothing. Don't worry about it."
Joe looked after him. "Should I be worried about it?" He wandered after his kids, wondering if he'd let his detective radar slip a little towards the end of the evening.
The evening ended with the four of them pitching in to clean up from the buffet. In the background, the radio played sweet Christmas songs. The only thing they forgot to do was turn off the TV. In the dark house that night, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving music played on; it intermingled with the soft, familiar Christmas music, long after they'd all said, 'Good night.'
I know it's late (I started this like the week of Thanksgiving, before lots of things went down on the show, okay?) but here it is. :P
Thanks for reading!