Disclaimer: I do not own 7th heaven or any of the characters. The CW does. I only own my own characters and ideas.

Chapter 12: Thanksgiving Morning

It was blessedly quiet in the house at 2:00 am. Soon the whole family would be waking up to go over to Nana and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving Day. The silence of the night was broken by the shrill beeping of a pager. Matt Camden flipped on the light and dialed the hospital. Sarah turned over in bed and groaned before sitting up.

"Yeah…I'm on my way. Just give me about ten minutes. What happened? Okay have the doctor on call keep an eye until I get there. Okay." Sarah gave her exhausted husband a quizzical look.

"You have to go into work? On Thanksgiving Day? I thought you had today off?"

Matt was hurriedly pulling on some scrubs and grabbing his bag. "I know hon, but it is one of my patients. She is going into premature labor and I need to be there for her. I'll be over to the house as soon as I can. Don't wait for me though."

Sarah got out of bed to give her husband a kiss. "Now be careful. If you are too tired this afternoon to drive call and I'll come and pick you up. I don't want you doing anything rash."

"I won't Sarah, don't worry." With that, Matt left the bedroom. He had slammed the door a little harder than he had meant to and Molly started crying. Sarah went into the nursery and grabbed her little girl. How fast she was starting to grow up. Just a week ago the family had celebrated Molly's first birthday.

While rocking Molly back to sleep, Sarah also looked in on her twin boys. They slept peacefully in bed. The nightlight illuminated their brown hair. They were both blessed with Matt's thick straight hair. Molly was going to have her mother's unruly curly hair. Molly couldn't seem to be coaxed back to sleep, so Sarah sat down in the living room with her daughter in her arms.

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Later that same morning, the house was filled with the smells of cooking breakfast. Sarah woke up without Molly in her hands and a blanket pulled over her.

"Good morning sunshine." Matt said as he went over to his wife.

"Matt, you must be exhausted. Why didn't you wake me up? I could have made breakfast for the kids so that you could get to sleep."

"You looked so peaceful sleeping there with our daughter. I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, it had been a false alarm last night. I got in less than an hour after I left. I got plenty of sleep."

Sarah couldn't be convinced of that fact. Her husband was looking more tired than ever. It seemed like the new doctors on call could never tell when it was time to call her husband into work in the middle of the night. That had been the second false alarm that week. It really could wear on a person.

"Here, let me finish making breakfast. You can get the twins cleaned up and ready. I really can handle it." Sarah grabbed the spatula from her husband. He went slowly up the stairs to go and get the twins moving. They tended to be slowpokes in the morning.

"Morning Mommy!" Anthony came down the stairs all nice and clean ready for breakfast.

"Morning Baby. Come on over here and give me a kiss." Sarah opened her arms wide to grab her son in a huge hug to go along with the kiss. Anthony ran headlong towards his mother. He was in a rather good mood that morning.

Matt came down shortly afterwards carrying a sleeping Molly in one arm and a fussy 5-year-old Lucas. "Lucas didn't want to get up this morning. I don't think he wants to go today."

Sarah knew the game her husband was playing. They played it every year with their son when he didn't want to go somewhere. She knew her part came up next. "Well, I guess he must be sick. If he is sick I will stay home with him and he can stay in bed all day. That means that I don't get to see all my nieces and nephews."

Lucas once again had forgotten that today was Thanksgiving and he was going to see all of his cousins. Most of them were the same age as his brother and him. Only Savannah and Charlie were older. "I don't feel sick Mommy. I don't want to stay home. Daddy! Why are you holding me? I can walk like a big boy. I'm not a baby anymore."

Matt put Lucas down and started setting the breakfast food on the table. Molly was put in the highchair. "Sarah, why don't you eat and then get ready. I can then feed Molly and the boys can watch some cartoons. We need to make sure we are at my parents' house before the parade starts. Otherwise you know at least Lucy and Ruthie will be over here trying to get us moving.

Sarah laughed and walked towards the stairs. "I love you. You know that, right?"

Matt just nodded at his wife. He was really too tired to respond. Today was going to be a long day.

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Annie was in the kitchen getting the turkey ready to put in the oven. She had to keep buying a bigger and bigger one every year. Her family just kept growing and she was thrilled about it. Both Mary and Sandy were pregnant. Sandy was due just two weeks before Mary. Who knew? Mary could deliver before Sandy. She and Eric would be the grandparents to two more grandchildren in May and June. There was always Ruthie to think about too. She wasn't too far from thinking about starting a family of her own with Nick.

"Nana! We're here!" Savannah's greeting brought Annie back out of her dreamland. Her family was all going to be here for the holiday.

"Hi Savannah. How are you?" Annie suspected to see Lucy, Kevin and the twins behind her, but instead Nick and Ruthie walked in behind. Before Annie had a chance to ask the of the situation, Savannah felt that she should explain herself.

"I got to spend the whole day with Aunt Ruthie yesterday. Then she let me sleep overnight so that I could make a card for both Zach and Brett. I was mean to them the night before and Aunt Ruthie made me understand."

"That sounds wonderful Vannah. Hey, why don't you go and see if you can find Grandpa. I bet he is in the living room getting ready to watch the parade. You can even get the best seat out there if you hurry.

Savannah didn't have to be told twice. She knew that the best seat was in Nana's chair in the living room. That would mean that she could sit on Nana's lap during the parade. The best part of the whole thing was to see Santa at the end of it all.

Simon came into the house next holding Aaron's hand. He was getting to be such a big boy. Six years old already. Sandy came in behind holding a side dish for dinner. She was starting to show a bit at just 4 months, but she was hiding it well with her dressy top. Mary and Carlos were right behind with Suzanne, Danielle, and Charlie. Charlie walked right up to Annie.

"Nana, is Savannah here yet?"

"Of course she is. She is getting ready to watch the parade. It's about to start. Would you bring out this bowl of chips on your way into the living room?"

Annie had known she didn't even have to ask. Charlie was the most kindhearted boy Mary and Carlos could have asked for. He and Savannah were really close after Mary and Carlos moved back to the Glenn Oak area.

Eric came into the living room. It was empty except for his wife. Almost his whole family was here. He understood that Kevin and Lucy always took a while with the boys. They needed to figure out what they wanted to eat even before they got to the house so that they didn't start snacking all day and then not be able to have dessert. Matt and Sarah surprised him though. They usually were very punctual.

As Eric was thinking this, Sarah, Molly, Anthony and Lucas came in the door. Eric took Molly from Sarah. Matt came in the door last. He looked absolutely exhausted. The poor boy looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. Annie gave Eric a look of concern as she was finally getting the turkey in the oven.