A/N: A little short, but I wanted to get this up before the holiday. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving :)

November 2013

"What's this Chuck?" Briggs asked, looking at the index card Charlie placed in front of him. "You want me to go grocery shopping? It's not my week on the chore wheel."

"I know, but Thanksgiving is this week and I don't trust Johnny not to freelance my Thanksgiving shopping list," Charlie explained as she finished handing out index cards to the rest of her roommates. People would scatter for Christmas, but for Thanksgiving everyone was sticking around and she was in charge of dinner. It had been a crazy year, following an even crazier summer. There were things in their personal lives they all wished they could change, but they were all alive. After her own close call with Jangles over the summer, she was definitely thankful to be alive.

"Pick up pies? It's Thanksgiving and all you want me to do is pick up pies?" Johnny asked, ignoring her comment about freelancing her grocery list, but clearly offended his only job was to stop at the bakery.

"Everyone here has a favorite pie, I don't have time to make six." She made the mistake of asking everyone what kind of pie they wanted on Thanksgiving and got five different answers. Her favorite was blueberry. Mike's was apple, Johnny liked cherry, Jakes liked banana cream, Paige wanted pecan and Briggs' favorite was pumpkin. "If you don't pick up the pies, we won't have dessert."

"You can't have Thanksgiving without pie," Paige said. "If you're going to cry about it, I'll pick up the pies."

"Everyone knows I know how to cook," Johnny said, looking dejected. "Just last week, I made this amazing cheddar bacon apple cheese sandwich. I can adjust the recipe for pie. Jakes, tell Charlie - "

"No," Jakes interrupted. "You are not making that into a pie. Do your assigned task."

"What'd you get?" Johnny asked.

"I'm setting the table. I will happily set the table as long as I'm not expected to make turkeys out of napkins." Jakes walked by Charlie and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you."

She smiled, pleased that at least one person was happy with their task.

"Ooh, can you do that?" Paige asked, leaning forward. "What other animals can you make?"

Jakes rolled his eyes, "I don't know how to make animals out of napkins." He reached over and grabbed Paige's index card. "Wine?"

"I have excellent taste in wine."

Johnny laughed, "You'll drink anything put in front of you."

"Which means I've tried more wine than you have and that makes me an expert," Paige insisted, snatching back her index card from Jakes. "Besides, it's either me or rum boy over there."

Briggs tapped his index card on the table, "Since I'm in charge of groceries, I can slip a bottle of rum into the cart."

Charlie swatted his hand, "If it's not on the list, you don't buy it. You can't find it, you call me and I'll give you an acceptable substitute. Or since Johnny doesn't seem impressed with picking up pies and wants to help out more, I'll send him to another store."

Johnny groaned, "What about you Mikey? You're awfully quiet."

"Apparently, I'm peeling potatoes."

"Peeling potatoes? What did you do to piss off Charlie?" Johnny asked.

"At least he's allowed in the kitchen," Charlie said. "That's more than I can say for you."

"That's true," Paige agreed, quickly taking Mike's side.

"She's got you there JT." Briggs slapped Johnny on the back as he started gathering up the dishes from dinner.

"But grunt work?" Mike asked. "I could at least baste the turkey or something."

"Do you want to peel and dice everything? Because you can be reassigned."

"No, Ma'am."

"That's why you're allowed in the kitchen, you follow orders," Charlie said. Amused, she watched the scene continue to unfold as everyone bickered about their assignments and teased each other about their own. Paige was a disaster in the kitchen, it was much safer for everyone if she was in charge of alcohol. Last year she let Paige help her out in the kitchen and she ruined the sweet potatoes by adding cumin instead of cinnamon and she didn't even want to think about what happened the year before that. Johnny was a wildcard. He knew his way around the kitchen but, his experiments bordered more on disaster than genius. Jakes was happier out of the kitchen. Paul and Mike were okay in the kitchen, but she was enough of a control freak that she wanted to do everything herself. She didn't really need Mike's help peeling potatoes. She could've told him to go to the store with Briggs or put him in charge of making a playlist, but she wanted Mike to know he was a part of the house.

"So two Thanksgivings ago, Paige - "

Paige smacked Johnny's arm, "Don't you dare tell that story!" Paige exclaimed, panicked. "Mike, don't listen to a word he says. What really happened was..."

THE END