I do not own any of the characters presented in this story other than Terry. No copyright infringement is intended. All other characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

28. THANKSGIVING

"So Edward, you're really not going to eat?" Jeff sat down with his plate of food at the table.

It was nearly seven at night by the time all of the food was cooked. Jeff's four seated dinner table was filled with food items: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls, gravy, and cranberry sauce, just to name a few.

Edward smiled politely. "No thank you. I'm on a special diet. I can't eat any of this stuff, not that it doesn't smell delicious."

"Well Jacob sure knows food, you can thank him for how good all of this came out." Jeff grabbed a forkful of turkey. "It's so delicious and moist."

I tried to talk but my mouth was so filled with food, only mumbling came out. Terry seemed impressed I could shovel so much food using only one hand. Under the table, the hand of mine that was not being used as a shovel, was holding one of Terry's hands. He seemed to be having difficulty eating one handed so I let go.

Not to say I wasn't happy about releasing his hand: food can get into my mouth faster with two hands. Edward made a disgusted face as I grabbed a second fork.

When we were about halfway through the meal, Terry came up with an idea. "Well since it's Thanksgiving and all, why don't we all say something we are thankful for?"

"That's not a bad idea, I'll start if you don't mind." Edward looked thoughtful for a moment. "Ok. I am thankful for my good friends and good family. It's not everyday you find people as good as the ones I have in my life."

I smiled. I was glad Edward and I became such good friends. But what am I thankful for…?

"I'll go now. Let's see… I'm thankful I've got so many dishwashers to help me clean up tonight." Jeff smiled.

Edward and Terry turned their heads to me and shot me dirty looks. I had plates upon plates stacked all around me. "Jacob really? You couldn't use the same plate?"

"It's not my fault… I ate so much of everything that I needed so many plates to hold all of the food."

"You didn't need to eat it all at once!" Terry threw his napkin at me.

"Hey, you weren't this upset a minute ago, when you didn't think you'd be doing the dishes!" I threw it back.

We continued to eat in silence for a few more minutes before Terry spoke. "Alright then. I'm thankful for…" I was really interested as to what Terry was thankful for the most. I was holding my breath, waiting for his answer. "I'm thankful that I found someone that truly loves me and would do anything for me. Someone that cares so much for my safety, that he blames himself for everything that happened to me. Someone that, no matter what happens, no matter how… afraid or weak I feel, I know he will be there for me to pick me up and make me strong." He turned his head to me. "I'm thankful for you, Jacob."

I smiled lovingly. "Thank you, Terry… That means a lot to me…"

We stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, before he turned to Jeff. "I am also thankful that you were here for me when I needed it."

Jeff shook his head. "No problem. That's what friends are for, right?"

It was my turn now. "Ok here goes. I have a few things I'm thankful for. First off, is you, Terry." I turned to him and held his hand. "You give me a reason to live, you are my life. Without you, it's hard to survive. You are the light in my dark, the wind beneath my wings, and all sorts of other corny love sayings." I smiled. "You just mean so much to me and I am so glad to have you in my life."

"Forever and always." Terry smiled and squeezed my hand.

After a few more seconds of staring into Terry's eyes, I turned to Edward. "I am secondly, I am so very thankful for you Edward. When I was lost, you made it a point to bring me back. You kept me focused on what needed to be focused on. I was failing miserably in class and you brought to up. Top of the class, Edward, I still can't thank you enough for that. You were my friend when I needed a friend. You were so determined to help me that you made it your priority to find out exactly what I was feeling, just so you could help me better… I…"

"You don't need to thank me, Jacob. We're friends. That's what we do."

I smiled and turned this time to Jeff. "Last, but not least, I am thankful for you. You helped Terry when he needed it. If it wasn't for you, I don't know where we'd be right now. You helped Terry…" A sudden, painful, realization hit me in that one moment. "when I couldn't…"

"Jacob…? Are you ok?" I felt Terry squeeze my hand again.

I shook my head and looked over towards him. I couldn't see, my eyes were blurry with tears. "I… Please excuse me… I need to go lay down… or something…"

I got up and walked down the hallway into Terry's room. I dropped myself onto his bed and buried my face into his pillow. I started to cry. As I fought to catch my breath, I caught the smell of Terry on the pillow and it began to calm me down a little bit.

After a few minutes of silent weeping, I felt a hand on my back. "Jacob?"

I lifted my head from the pillow and saw Terry sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me. He looked sad. That made me feel worse. "Why are you sad, Terry?"

"Why am I sad? I'm not the one crying…" He placed a hand on the side of my face. "Why are you sad?"

I sat up. "I'm your imprinter. I'm supposed to be the one who makes you feel better. I'm supposed to protect you and make the pain go away… But I couldn't… Just a normal human with a normal connection to you is able to help you in ways I can't! I'm bonded to you through the fates! Destiny has brought me to you and I couldn't fix you…"

Terry sat there silently and let me go on.

"I'm supposed to be the one to be there for you… I love you more than anything! Anything in the whole world! It hurts me to be apart from you. I need to be with you, but I couldn't make your fears go away. You needed to leave Washington, leave me, to get better. I don't even know why you love me…"

"Jacob. You know I love you. You don't need to do this to yourself." Terry climbed in bed with me. "Let me lay with you, we should just talk. Have a conversation about everything we're feeling. We haven't talked like that since before I woke up in the hospital, two months ago."

I started to stand up. "I don't want to talk. Besides, I need to go help with the dishes…" What am I doing…?

"No you don't. Edward said not to worry about them. He'll take care of them. Please talk with me. I don't want to lose you because we don't know what's going on with each other." Terry grabbed my arm and pulled me down to him.

"You're right." We laid together in silence for a few minutes. "Can I ask you a few questions… about us?"

Terry laid his head on my chest. "Of course."