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Author's Note: Hi everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well! First of all I am very sorry for not posting yesterday. I made the mistake of not finishing the chapter the night before, I had only one scene done and thought I'd be able to finish the second scene on Thanksgiving morning. I was wrong. Between helping with the meal and it being my Mom's birthday that day too, it was a very busy day. I also didn't want to post only one scene as a short chapter and I think when you read the chapter you'll see why. I really hope that you all understand and that everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving! Thank you once more for all of the amazing support you've given this story. One of the things I am very thankful for this year is all of you wonderful readers and friends who keep me motivated to write and share these stories with you all. You all are amazing! Thanks for stopping by to read, hope you like it, please review if you can, I'd love to hear your thoughts! We have a few more days in November so I'm gonna try to post up a few more chapters. Honestly though I've already posted up way more than I thought I would and it's all thanks you all! Thank you! *hugs* Thanks for reading, hope you like, and please, Enjoy!
It was one of those rare moments where the Forman basement was actually silent. No one was really quite sure what to say as they stared back at their dinner guest. The silence was broken soon enough and it was only fitting that it was done by one of the louder members of the group.
"The stripper's here!" shouted an overly animated Kelso just before he and Fez dashed over to where Sam was standing, nearly tripping over each other.
When she heard her husband's explanation Brooke wanted to be embarrassed but all she could feel was confused. Had he said stripper?
Sam didn't appear at all surprised or offended by the greeting, instead she smiled back at the only two people who seemed very happy to see her. "I remember you two," she told them causing them to beam with happiness. "Fuz right?"
Hearing the incorrect name he's been given, Fez's grin dropped into a pout while Kelso's doubled in size. "Fuz, ha ha!"
"I didn't forget you either," Sam sweetly assured Kelso, although it took her a few seconds to recall his name. "It's nice to see you, Kevin."
"Ha ha!" Fez gave a triumphant laugh while pointing at his friend 'Kevin' who sulked unhappily at having his name forgotten too.
Moving past Fuz and Kevin, Sam thought it was time to give proper hellos to the others in the room as well, and who better to start with than the man she had spent several months 'married' to in this very basement.
"And my favorite ex-husband," she said approaching Hyde, who had managed to replace his surprise with his shield of Zen. Sam leaned in to hug Hyde, but Hyde was unsure of what to do; luckily before too long, Sam pulled away and added "Well in Wisconsin."
"We were never really married, Sam," reminded Hyde.
Thinking that Hyde might still be hurt back the fact that their 'marriage' had been a sham, she pouted sadly as she nodded her head. "I know. Would it make you feel better if I told you, you were my only fake husband?"
"Doesn't make me feel worse," Hyde replied with a shrug.
Sam beamed at Hyde before she noticed a familiar face seated on the couch nearby. The hair color however was not as she remembered it and so she had to make sure she had recognized the right person.
"Donna, is that you?"
Donna moved the wine glass away from her face, her failed attempt of a hiding place, and smiled politely at the blonde woman standing over her. "Hi Sam."
"Donna!" she squealed in response then leaned down to pull Donna into a hug like they were sorority sisters reuniting. "You look great! The red hair is totally hot."
"Thanks," Donna smiled, not used to having another woman actually compliment her hair color, without it coming as a backhanded compliment. There was a pause and Donna felt a tiny bit uncomfortable and really unsure of what to say next. She felt like she should ask Sam something about herself. "So Sam…do you still have your Trans Am?"
Hands on hips, Sam nodded, "Yup. I got it redone in red too."
"Red?" repeated Donna before a grin broke onto her face, "That is so badass!"
Still standing near Hyde, Eric scowled at his wife's behavior. What was with her and Trans Ams? "Uh Donna…"
"Oh right," she said snapping out of it and deciding to help Sam through her greetings and a few introductions. "Sam that's my husband, Eric. He was in Africa the last time you were here."
Though Eric was still looking at his wife, his look telling her how getting Sam to him was not what he wanted either, Donna didn't appear to have noticed and Sam didn't seem to mind. She headed back over to Eric giving him a friendly smile before sticking her hand out in front of her.
"Hi Eric," she said and he took her hand. "You're the one who invited me to today's dinner, aren't you."
"Uh yes but…."
Sam didn't let him continue, "Thank you. It was really sweet of you."
"Don't mention it," Eric replied with a smile, then she smiled back as their handshake came to an end. Sam began to pull away only to have Eric tug back on her wrist, she looked back at him, "Seriously, don't…don't mention it. To anyone. Please?"
"Okay…" Sam agreed but was a little hesitant to do so.
"Oh my God!" Laurie suddenly exclaimed as if she had figured out who Sam was. Eric had almost expected her to run up to the kitchen and tell Jackie, instead things took a different turn.
"I have that same top in blue!" she told Sam pointing at the green low-cut tight fitting green sweater she wore.
Hearing that Laurie had the same top as a stripper, Fez and Kelso looked at each other. Fez grinned on with pride while Kelso smiled on with approval towards Fez; and the two men continued to smile as they nodded their heads approvingly.
"My sister, ladies and gentlemen," said an exasperated Eric. Clearly he was not amused that his sister had the same fashion sense as a stripper.
"And my wife!" declared a very proud smiling Fez.
Laurie grinned at the other blonde in the room, "I'm Laurie, nice jeans too"
"Thanks Laurie," Sam replied before realizing there was still one person she had yet to meet. She looked at the other woman seated on the couch next to Donna, "Hi I'm Sam and you're…"
"She's Brooke," Kelso was quick to inform. "She's also here for dinner."
"Michael," Brooke said warningly.
"Oh and she's a librarian," he added and though Brooke didn't say a word, he could feel her angry eyes on him. "She's also the mother of my child. And she's….she's my wife."
He had muttered the last words just slightly but they were still heard by both Brooke and Sam. The two women smiled as they shook hands.
Hyde watched the scene but there was really only one thought going through his mind at the moment. Jackie hadn't seen her yet, maybe they really could get her out of here without Jackie ever knowing Sam had been there. He's have to be quick though.
"Alright, now that hellos and introductions are done, Sam, we gotta talk about dinner," Hyde said, hoping to make this quick and painless.
Sam nodded, "Right. But can I say something first?" she asked but didn't even wait for him to agree before she continued. "I know it's been years since we last saw each other but it really means a lot that you would make room at your table for me. In fact if it wasn't for you guys I'd probably be having Thanksgiving in a motel room, by myself in front of a TV. There probably wouldn't be any turkey either, just vending machine food or Fatso Burger…and what kind of Thanksgiving is that? I guess really I just want to say thank you for allowing me to spend Thanksgiving dinner here with all of you."
Taking in Sam's speech, Hyde didn't think he could go through with his plan. In fact he was certain he couldn't. He didn't want Sam, or anyone spending the holiday alone. The Thanksgiving dinner she describe reminded him of Thanksgiving dinners he had when he was younger and living with Edna. No turkey, in front of the TV/radio, alone. It was horrible, he didn't want anyone going through that, not even his fake ex-wife.
"What were you gonna say, Hyde?" Sam asked, pulling Hyde back into the present.
"Uh," he said trying to think of a new excuse since he was not going to expose his initial plan. "Dinner's running a little late."
"Oh that's okay," assured Sam as she made herself comfortable in Hyde's usual seat. "It'll give us all a chance to catch up!"
Hyde nodded, "Yeah, right. I gotta do something first though."
0o0o0o
Upstairs in the kitchen Jackie was working on the Thanksgiving turkey. There had luckily been a recipe card in Kitty's collection explaining how to prepare the bird. It sounded easy enough. Of course reading the steps of a recipe and actually following said steps was a whole different thing; Jackie learned this very quickly when she got ready to do the first instruction.
Remove the entrails from inside the turkey.
The thought disgusted Jackie alone. It took her years to get over her repulsion of touching something that came out of a birds butt but now she had to stick her hand up a bird butt and take out the…entrails.
As much as it grossed her out, and even scared her a little, she was not going to let that be where her journey in making Thanksgiving dinner ended.
Jackie Burkhart Hyde was a smart woman, she was a resourceful woman. She was good at everything! She was ready to add 'removing entrails from inside a turkey' to that list of everything. And she had thought of a great plan to help her do it.
"Ew, ew, ew!" Jackie cried as she stuck in two wooden spoons into the frozen turkey as she tried to retrieve the entrails. It was a lot harder to get and keep a grip on the items and it didn't help that Jackie couldn't look inside the bird for too long—it was not a pretty sight.
She continued to ew and poke and dig around until she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Quickly she dropped the spoons to the side and tried to be busy doing something else as she casually looked over her shoulder to see who it was.
"Oh Steven, thank God it's you," she said in relief. "Can you do me a favor and remove all the icky stuff from the turkey's butt?"
Hyde frowned at his wife, looked over at the frozen bird, then back at Jackie, "Yeah sure, but first I gotta tell you something."
"Okay," Jackie nodded, happy that she wouldn't have to take the insides out.
She knew she had said she wanted to cook the meal on her own but this wasn't cooking, it was removing, not the same thing. Hyde had no problem completing the favor for her but he'd waited long enough to tell her the truth about Sam. He wasn't waiting a second longer.
"Sam's here," he told her.
"Really? That's great, Steven," Jackie continued to smile on oblivious to her husband's seriousness of the situation. "Send him up. I can't wait to meet him…I mean see him."
He shook his head, preparing himself for the blowup he was sure to come. "Jackie, Sam's not a he. She's a she. She's Sam as in Samantha." He paused letting it sink in but Jackie still didn't appear to be making the connection. "Samantha as in the Samantha I met after we broke up, who lived with me down in the basement for a few months when I thought I was married to her."
Jackie stared at Hyde silently, taking in what he'd said; He worried she had gone into shock until a smile broke onto her face.
"Oh Steven, you're such a kidder!" she said hitting him lightly on the chest, but when he didn't smile hers began to fade as well. "You're kidding right?" he said nothing and Jackie began to realize he really could be telling the truth. "Steven, tell me you're kidding! Tell me anything but that Sam the Stripper is here for Thanksgiving!"
"If I could I would, doll," Hyde said honestly and sincerely.
His calm tone did nothing to calm Jackie down. She'd buried her face in her hands for a moment before ripping them off to reveal her true feelings of anger
"I can't believe this! Steven, your ex-wife is going to have Thanksgiving dinner, my Thanksgiving dinner with us?"
"We were never really married."
The wide eyed look of fury that Jackie looked up at him with to Hyde that the reminder was not as helpful as one might hope.
"How could you do this?" Jackie demanded to know, one hand on her hip the other flying about. "How could you invite her to Thanksgiving dinner?"
Hyde knew Jackie would be upset, he'd tried to prepare himself for it, he understood that she had every right to be. But he did not like the tone she was using especially as she accused him of doing something that he had no part in.
"Look Jackie, I'll take blame for her being in our lives in the first place. That's all my doing, I get that. I get you being angry at me for that," he said, his voice firm but not threatening. "But I had nothing to do with this, alright? I didn't invite Sam to Thanksgiving dinner."
Jackie's second hand joined the other on her hip, "Well if you didn't who did?"
At that moment an unsuspecting Eric Forman walked into the kitchen, unaware that he had practically stepped into what was feeling like a very dangerous combat zone. Hyde spotted him before Eric saw him, he looked at Jackie then titled his head towards Eric's direction; silently letting her know who had been the mastermind behind the mess.
Hyde wasn't a squealer but there were certain times when it was every man for himself, times like pouring oatmeal over Red Forman's head or inviting an ex who was hated by you wife to Thanksgiving dinner.
"You," Jackie sneered with hatred as she approached the oblivious Eric.
"What?" Eric asked confused until he saw the tiny brunette marching towards him looking like she wanted to hurt him—very badly. There could only be on reason for Jackie wanting to kill him today and Eric's eyes widened with fear when he realized this. "Oh God, she knows!"
Eric tried to escape back into the basement but with Donna coming up right behind him, his path was blocked. He couldn't go back into the basement and turning himself in the other direction would lead him straight into a vengeful Jackie. Like a trapped animal Eric stayed in his spot, in the middle of the two women, desperately looking around for a way to help him escape.
"What's going on?" Donna asked from behind Eric.
"Your husband invited Sam the Stripper to Thanksgiving dinner!" Jackie informed, not knowing that Donna had already heard this news.
Donna's face looked blank and all she could say was, "Oh."
Luckily Jackie's anger was solely focused on Eric at the moment that she didn't notice her best friend's lack of reaction. "You invited a stripper to thanksgiving dinner. Who does that?"
"Actually, I don't know if you've talk to Fez or Kelso lately…"Eric started to tell Jackie about the children's book that was supposedly following that very storyline, but Jackie didn't want to hear it.
"What were you thinking?"
Eric swallowed, trying not to look too scared—he was certain Jackie was feeding off fear. "The more the merrier?"
"This isn't Christmas, Eric!" a frustrated Jackie reminded. "This is Thanksgiving dinner! My Thanksgiving dinner and you invited…that woman."
"Okay, Jackie, I know you're upset but I think there's something else you should know," Eric started to say, speaking calmly cautiously before suddenly speeding it up and pointing his finger back at his wife. "Donna knew Sam was coming too and never said anything!"
With shock covering her face, Donna's widened eyes harshly started at her husband. "Eric! What the Hell?"
"Hey, if it takes some of Jackie's heat of hatred off of me, I'm taking everyone down with me."
Author's Note: So what did you think? Yay? Nay? A little of both? Be sure to let me know in a review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Again I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving with lots of fun and food! Thank you for all of your support and giving me something else to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and all year long!
Also if you all are interested, I've posted up a new story 'The Girl That I Marry' it's got some little thanksgiving fluff in it and it's really short but I'm thinking of adding on to it. Only thing is, it's a Red and Kitty story. Not always as popular as other stories but I hope if you're interested of just looking for something to read you'll stop by to give it a read. And don't forget to let me know if you think I should continue it or not, I'm still weighing the options right now.
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have nice day, and I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!