November

"We should probably be feeling guilty about this, but I can't. This is so wonderful." Kelly leaned back, enjoying the simple feeling of his arms around her as the crisp breeze rustled through the leaves above them.

"Why should we feel guilty?" Joey asked, bending his head slightly to look at her. "We deserve this. After everything we've been through to get here…this is exactly what we should be doing—just taking some time to sit and be still and be thankful for everything we have, for this time together…for each other."

"You don't think your Mom will be upset that we're missing Thanksgiving?" The picnic had been such a tempting offer that it wasn't until they were here that she considered what they were missing. Holidays were a big deal in the Buchanan family and Joey was missing an important one with his family.

"She'll be fine." He kissed her cheek softly. "Besides, I told her we'd stop by tonight and have some leftovers. That made her happy. She understands. This is our first Thanksgiving together in years…it should be special."

"It has been," she whispered. "I can't believe you actually bought and packed an entire Thanksgiving dinner."

"Of course I did," he smiled.

"I'm sorry about that again, by the way." She snuggled up against him, pulling the blanket closer to them.

Joey smiled at her. "It's not a big deal. This turned out great. It was exactly what we needed and it gave me the perfect excuse to spend some time alone with you."

"I know," she sighed, "but we were going to spend the day with your family if I hadn't ruined," she grumbled, pretending to pout a bit.

"You didn't ruin it. You just had a little incident." He turned his head away from her so she wouldn't see the smile that threatened to spread across his face.

The crash had been his first indication that things were not going well. The series of four letter expletives had been the second, and the smoke alarm had been the final and concluding clue that they would not be contributing anything to the Buchanan family Thanksgiving dinner this year.

When she'd come out of the kitchen, holding what remained of the pumpkin pie, he'd tried hard not to laugh, but seeing her face covered in dried eggwhites and flour sent him over the edge.

"It probably tastes fine," he'd smiled as he placed a forkful in his mouth.

"Really?" She'd watched him hopefully as he chewed exactly twice and swallowed quickly.

"It's.." He stopped, reaching for a bottle of water from the fridge, "It's too hot for me to really taste right now."

"It's terrible, isn't it?" She'd allowed him to gather her in his arms as she dissolved into a mixture of sobs and giggles over the pathetic excuse for a pie that sat on the table.

She pulled away and turned towards it. "Maybe if we put some whip cream on it?"

Joey shook his head as he kissed her forehead. "There are some things even whip cream can't fix."

"It wasn't that funny," she said, pinching him as he sat there with a huge smile on his face. "Stop laughing at me."

"Sorry." He straightened and kissed her again. "I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you."

"I'm not laughing, Joey." She turned away, pretending to be offended.

He sighed, scooting over on the blanket to lean closer to her, "Awww, come on….I've got something that will make you smile."

She giggled, tapping at his watch. "Uh, Joey….we've got to leave for your Mom's in about thirty minutes. I'm not really sure that's enough time to…." She stopped as she saw the box he held in his hands.

"What's that," she asked, a smile stretching across her face.

"Why don't you open it and find out?" he said, handing her the box and sitting back.

She tore at the paper, tossing it aside as she opened the lid to reveal the watch that lay inside. "Joey, it's beautiful," she said, turning around and kissing him quickly.

"I was trying to think of something that made sense. You know being that it's Thanksgiving and all….and I thought about everything that I was thankful for….and…"

"Time," Kelly said quietly. "You're thankful for time."

"Well, yeah, but there's more than that….turn it around.."

She carefully turned the watch over, holding it up to the light to see the small date engraved in the back. "It's got a date on it," she said quietly.

"Yeah, it does," he said with a smile.

"My birthday," she said quietly.

"Right." He watched her for a moment before speaking again. "That," he said, as he carefully placed the watch on her arm, "is what I'm most thankful for."