Dinner was a tense affair. Janie kept glaring at Carl, daring him to say something so Jack could throw him out. Jack was working on ignoring the whole situation, keeping Rose's hand tightly held in his. Richie and Jolene tried to draw the eldest Dawson into a conversation with them, feeling bad that he was being ignored as a whole. Rose and Cal just kept their eyes on their plates, not saying anything at all.

Surprisingly, it was Carl that broke the silence.

"This was a very good turkey. Well cooked and moist. The dressing is nice too," He side, his eyes on his plate. He figured that if he was going to start being nice to the girl, he better start now.

Everyone paused, shocked that he actually gave Rose a compliment. Janie of course was not buying it.

"Okay, now tell us what's wrong with it or how mom does it best," Janie bit into her roll.

"Janie!" Irene gasped, horrified and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, mom. But I'm not buying it. He's spent a good long time belittling Rose and now he's complimenting her? Something's up," Janie shrugged unapologetic.

"Nothing is up. I was just saying that the turkey is good. I don't see what's so negative about that," Carl frowned.

Jack sighed, knowing the real reason Carl complimented Rose. He was trying to do what he had asked. He might as well acknowledge him on it. "Regardless, thank you for the compliment. I am sure Rose appreciates it."

Rose was still shocked but managed to nod. "Yes...um, thank you."

"I have an idea," Jolene smiled, looking around the table. She wanted to break the sudden tension somehow. This wasn't her old family with her father and two brothers. This was her brother in law's house and should be filled with the warmth and love of family. Maybe reminding each other what they had to be thankful for would break the tension. "Let's go around the table and say what we all have to be thankful for this year. I'll start. I'm thankful to be a part of such a loving family. There once was a time I thought I wouldn't be."

Richie smiled. "I'm thankful for my wife and my son. They keep me on the straight and narrow."

"I'm thankful for my children and having them all under the same roof for once," Irene smiled.

"I'm thankful for the art gallery. Now I can support my family while doing something I love," Jack grinned, kissing Rose's hand.

"I'm thankful for Jack and our children. They are my life. The very reason I get up in the morning," Rose smiled, touching Jack's warm cheek. "I love you so much..."

Jack smiled back, truly touched by her words. He knew that Rose loved him, but to hear her say it like this touched his heart each and every time. "I love you too. Twice as much."

"That's true love right there," Janie smiled. "And I'm thankful that I had found my own. Emma, Cal, and Alex are my life."

"Funny how your true love tried to kill your brother," Carl snorted, unable to resist.

Silence fell over the table once again. The tension thickened so much, it could practically be cut with a knife.

"I had already apologized for that," Cal coldly replied.

"And it's none of your business," Janie crossed her arms. "What happened back then was between Cal, Jack, and Rose and they have already come to terms with it and have moved on."

"Uncle Carl, if you know what's good for you, you'd drop it. What happened on Titanic, stays on Titanic. It has no bearing here. Cal and I made our peace. Let's move on, please," Jack's voice was cold and firm.

Carl could only nod in response, not wanting to risk making his nephew angry and losing all progress he had made.

"Come on everyone. This is a family holiday! We have good food, good company. Rose and Jack have worked hard so we can have a nice time. Let's not ruin it," Richie tried to smooth things over, seeing how things were about to fall apart.

"If you really cared about how hard Jack and Rose worked to give us a nice time, you would have left him at home," Janie glared at Richie, angry with him for inviting the one man that had ruined everything last year.

"Janie, that is enough! Now we're all trying to have a nice dinner here and get along. I suggest that you keep quiet until spoken to if you can't stop attacking everyone," Irene scolded through clenched teeth, having seen how uncomfortable both Jack and Rose had become at the bickering. "This is Thanksgiving. A time for family. Let's act like it."

"Well, I'm sorry mother. I just remember coming home from my honeymoon, looking forward to Thanksgiving with my family, just to have it ruined by him. I can't forget or forgive him and the others for that so easily," Janie laid down her fork, and got up. "Excuse me, I'm no longer hungry."

"Sweetpea? Sweetpea come back," Cal got up to go after his wife who stiffly walked out of the room. "I'm sorry. I'll bring her back."

Rose watched with a sinking feeling in her stomach as Cal rushed after his wife.

"Is Janie angry?" Emma frowned, concerned about her adopted step-mother and whether it had been something she had done. "Did I do something wrong?"

"She's not angry at you sweetheart," Jack reassured the girl, closing his eyes against the light in the room, feeling a migraine coming on. "She's just angry at the situation I guess."

"I'm sorry, Jack. I really should have thought," Richie began to apologize, feeling guilty for another Thanksgiving being ruined.

Jack just shrugged in response, placing his own fork down. "I'm going to go see about Janie. I'll be back."

"Jack," Rose grabbed his arm, not sure how to handle everything that was falling apart. He just placed a hand over her's and squeezed reassuringly.

"You'll be fine. I won't be long. I promise."

Rose sighed and nodded, releasing him. She watched as he left to go after Janie and Cal. She then looked at the occupants around the table. "I'm sure that they'll return shortly."

…..

Jack found Janie and Cal outside on the porch. Janie was glaring into the horizon while Cal stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Can I have a moment with my sister please?" Jack requested, startling them both out of their thoughts.

Cal gave Janie a questioning look, silently asking her if that was what she wanted. Janie just nodded and gave him a short kiss.

"I'll be fine," She reassured.

Cal turned and left after giving Jack a short nod, leaving the two siblings alone. At first everything was silent. Jack didn't know what he wanted to say or what he could say to smooth things over. But he did know that he wanted to salvage the night somehow. He wanted to give Rose at least one good Thanksgiving experience without all the drama.

"Go ahead. Tell me about what a spectacle I made of myself in there," Janie broke the silence, her expression unreadable.

"I think that you already know," Jack replied, walking up to stand beside her. He sighed, wishing that she wasn't so shut off. She reminded him of the time that they had argued about Cal, right before their father had died. Except, he had been the one shutting her out. "Do you think that I'm happy that he's here?"

"No. I don't. But I don't think you exactly hate it either. I think that you're tempted to forgive him everything, even," Janie turned her glare onto her twin. "Which drives me up the wall. How can you be so naive? How can you protect Rose and your family if you're so willing to forgive the people that hurt them?"

"You are a fine one to be pointing that out, Janie. I had to forgive Cal. Or otherwise, I couldn't accept your feelings for him."

"That's different and you know it. You know Cal won't do anything against you and Rose again. You can't say the same about Uncle Carl. I see the hatred burning in his eyes when he looks at her. Can't you? Why are you so blind to this?"

"I'm not blind to anything. I told Uncle Carl, either he accepts Rose or there's no hope of ever reconciling."

"And of course you believe that's enough to change anyone," Janie huffed.

"It changed Cal. You don't think he just got over all the anger over Rose leaving him, do you? That it was easy for him to apologize? No, it wasn't. He loved you enough to change. Why can't Uncle Carl?"

"Because, unlike Cal, Uncle Carl is too set in his ways. He's not going to just let his hatred go, or else he would have done so way before now. I'm warning you, Jack. He's going to destroy your family if you're not careful. I know you love him. I know you miss the way things used to be with you two...but isn't your love for Rose more important than that?"

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. Why was she asking him that? The answer should be more than obvious. "Of course it is. Rose and our children are the most important things to me. Which is why I'm not just going to forgive him. He's going to have to prove to me that he's accepting the people I love and care about. If I was as naive as you like to claim I'm being, I would have just forgiven him."

"I think you're putting up a fight because you're still angry. But soon you won't be angry anymore and he'll have an in. And then he'll be back to his old tricks."

"Janie...look, trust me alright? I am not going to just forgive him. Not after all he's done. And I'm not asking you to forgive him either. But what I am asking of you is to cool it with the aggression. For Rose's sake. I promised her a peaceful Thanksgiving and it's not very peaceful with you going after Uncle Carl, even when he's trying to be civil. Okay? For me, just...let it go."

Janie sighed. She didn't want to let it go. She bristled every time the old man looked at Cal in that hateful way of his. But this was Jack. The one person that she really would do almost anything for. He couldn't refuse him.

"Alright. Fine. I'll shut up just to keep the peace. But if he starts in on Cal or Rose..."

"You have my permission to defend them to the death. I'll even join you. And that's something, me defending Hockley," Jack snorted in amusement.

Janie just laughed and shook her head. "The two of you are never going to be friends are you?"

"Janie, I think the fact that we haven't said one mean thing to each other in over a year is saying something. Friends is too much to ask for..."

"I understand...I guess. Well...come on. Let's get back in there before all the food is gone and I'll have to eat the wall paper for dinner," Janie chuckled, leading the way back into the house.

…..

The rest of the evening was rather peaceful. Carl had remained silent for the rest of the night, not even looking in Cal or Rose's direction. Cal and Jack were civil, both staying on neutral subjects, mainly Janie and the kids. Richie and Jolene told stories of their lives in New Orleans and Jack and Rose talked about the Calvert wedding and how happy Alice and Matthew now were. All in all, despite the earlier tension, it was a pleasant Thanksgiving. Jack and Rose couldn't ask for a better one.

Once everyone was gone and the kids were in bed, Jack and Rose both did the dishes together and ended the evening by sitting on the porch swing, looking up at the stars and moon. Jack had an arm wrapped around Rose's shoulder as she rested her head against him, feeling at peace and truly thankful.

"Well...it wasn't so bad," Rose smiled, cuddling closer to her husband. "Even with Carl here."

"You really think so?"

"It was better than last year, where I was made to feel unwelcome and we had to leave to spend it at Janie and Cal's. We only got dinner because Janie sucked at giving the staff orders," Rose giggled at the memory. "Then again, it was lovely because we were with your sister and we had each other and we were both thankful to even be able to have Thanksgiving together after all we had gone through that April..."

"Yeah. It was bad and good. And you're right. This year wasn't bad at all. And Uncle Carl paid you that compliment, to my surprise. I think he may really be trying."

Rose frowned. She was all for Jack forgiving Carl just so he wouldn't have that negativity floating around in his life. But she hoped that didn't mean that the man was welcomed in their home any time. "Janie wants us to spend Christmas with the Hockley's..."

Jack laughed. He found the idea ridiculous. He and Cal may get along better now than they ever had, but did that mean that he wanted to spend Christmas with the Hockley family? He didn't think so. "What did you tell her?"

"We'll be there."

Jack's laughter dried up immediately as he looked at Rose in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Well...yes. I mean...Jack, it's her first big Christmas with that family and she's going to have to host the big party plus the dinner. It's going to be all on her to organize. She's never been to finishing school and she's going to need the help. Trust me, in high society, parties like these can make or break a reputation and the Hockley's have a reputation of pulling out all the stops. I promised her that I'd come and help and actually put this useless finishing school training to good use for once. She's my sister as well as yours and I couldn't let her down...you do understand...don't you?"

Jack saw the pleading in her eyes and knew he was going to cave. He was helpless when it came to her beautiful green eyes, begging for him to just give in. To let her have her way. "But it's Hockley!"

"You mother will be there."

"But...it's Hockley..."

"Plenty of people to draw and perhaps add to your work at the gallery..."

"But..."

"And it'll make me extremely happy. It'll definitely be better than last year and the Dawson twins will be together..."

"Alright alright. We'll do Christmas at the Hockley's. Celebrate in style for once, I guess. But next year it's just you, me, and the kids."

Rose grinned and kissed him deeply. "Thank you..."

"Anything for you my Rose...anything for you. Let's just hope that it'll be a Marry Christmas without the drama of last year."

"Well, with your Uncle definitely not invited, I doubt there will be any drama to be had," Rose giggled, kissing him again. Inwardly she hoped that those words wouldn't come back to haunt her. The Hockley family were always good for drama. She didn't think this year would be any different, even though for Janie's sake, she hoped it was.