The Thanksgiving holiday came to Hawke's cabin in a way that was much different than any he'd experienced since he was a child. It was packed tight even with the new expansion.
There was the family itself, newly expanded by two with the homecoming of Sinjin and new baby Jameson. Michael and Marella were coming for dinner as well as Doc and Max and of course Dom. Hawke wasn't entirely sure the cabin had ever hosted this many people at once. But it was very welcome. He was thankful for every person there.
The weather was beautiful that afternoon and a bit warmer than usual so they were going to dine outside in front of the cabin at a big table that the two Hawke brothers built together just for the occasion. They'd had to wrangle some extra chairs from Buddy at the 94th to give everyone a seat at the table but it was well worth the effort, Hawke thought.
Max and Doc had come early in the day, landing on the lake which Emily still thought was "super cool" and Max had been helping Caitlin in the kitchen and giving the nursing mother plenty of breaks as well. Caitlin was more than grateful for the extra help.
Hawke, Doc and Sinjin had kept the kids and dogs occupied and made sure everything outside was set. Everyone would come into the kitchen at one point or another to help out, washing up or cutting vegetables or other things the ladies needed too.
When Dom arrived, he brought a large casserole dish filled with a delicious looking Italian tiramisu for dessert and after hugging the kids and greeting his boys and Doc he headed into the kitchen to help Cait and Max with dinner. Caitlin wanted to make a traditional southern sweet potato casserole and he wanted to learn how to make it and he was going to make a cranberry dish that even Emily wouldn't turn her nose up at, he was sure of it.
Max and Cait already had the turkey in the oven and they were making a stuffed fish dish for String. When Michael and Marella arrived, they brought Tracy Rogers with them.
Sinjin was shocked to see the pretty blonde arrive with Michael and Marella and looked at String to see if he knew the woman would be there. The look on his face clearly said that his younger brother had no idea.
"Hope you have room for one more, Tracy's plan to go home for Thanksgiving fell through because her dad had to fly out to South Korea on short notice. Her mom decided to go to Oregon to spend the day with extended family so it left Tracy with no one to spend the day with," Michael explained as they met the two brothers and Doc in front of the cabin.
"Sorry to crash the party but Michael assured me there'd be room and I brought an entry fee. Marella said you'd be having salmon as well as turkey so I made my mom's rice pilaf that should go well with either," Tracy said with a smile. "Again, I sure hope it isn't a bother having me here."
"Of course not," Hawke told her. "Come on in, I bet that the kids will be absolutely thrilled to see you too."
Hawke motioned her toward the porch and Sinjin turned with her. "Come on, the kitchen is a bit crowded right now but we can put this on the bar if it doesn't need to go in the fridge," Sinjin told her.
"Thanks, it'll be fine on the bar, we'll probably need to reheat it but we can do that just before dinner is done," she said and Caitlin looked up and smiled at her.
"Tracy! What a wonderful surprise," she said coming out of the kitchen to hug the woman. "I thought you were going home?"
"Dad got shipped out to South Korea at the last minute and mom decided to go to Oregon. When Michael found out he and Marella asked me to come up here. I'm sorry to add one more to the crowd though. I did bring a peace offering," she said holding up the large bowl.
"Oh, hon' you didn't have to bring a thing but yourself," Caitlin told her and took the bowl to set on the counter.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked and Caitlin shook her head. "No, I think we are at capacity in the kitchen right now. You could do me a huge favor though and go check on the kids. They are in Le's room, Sinjin can show you the way."
"I'd love to, they have Jameson?"
"Yep, he's with them. They are both so enamored with the baby, I've been lucky having so much help. My mom was here a few weeks and the kids and String and Sinjin have both been awesome help too," Caitlin praised as she went back to the kitchen.
Tracy looked up at Sinjin who'd been quiet as he stood beside her. "Well awesome helper, let's go see those kids, I think it is time for me to get better acquainted with Jameson."
Sinjin laughed as he limped along beside her. "He's a little heartbreaker already I think. Every woman who sees that kid seems to just fall in love with him," Sinjin said with a grin.
"Aww, I imagine so. It is hard for a lot of people to resist a cute baby," she said as they went down the wide hallway. "Wow, this cabin is gorgeous."
"This is the new section but String made sure it matched the old part of the cabin so it didn't look like it was an addition," Sinjin explained as they reached the door to Le's room.
"He did a great job then. I certainly can't tell a difference," she answered and then paused as they could hear giggling. "Listen."
Sinjin listened and he and Tracy were both smiling. They could hear the baby making cooing sounds as Le and Emily talked to him.
Sinjin rapped on the door twice and then opened it. "You guys have a visitor," he announced and Emily carefully got up to not bounce the baby on the bed and came over to hug Tracy.
"I didn't know you were coming, Miss Tracy!"
"It was a last-minute thing. Oh, your little brother sure has grown in the last three weeks," she said as she went into the room and sat down on the edge of Le's bed. Le was sitting on the bed with his palm on the baby's tummy.
"We've been trying to keep him occupied while all the adults get dinner ready. We figured it would be more fun for him to be with us than in his crib just staring at the ceiling," Le explained and Tracy nodded.
"That's very smart, Le. He needs lots of stimulation, talking to him, even though he can't talk yet helps him learn. Can I hold him?" Tracy asked and Le smiled.
"Sure, I bet he'd like that, just watch your hair, he likes to pull," Le told her and Sinjin laughed as Emily sat down on the bed too.
"Yeah, he tried to eat my pigtail last night," Emily said with a grin as Tracy picked the baby up and cuddled him against her chest.
"Oh, aren't you a little sweetheart?" she said to him and Jameson just gazed up at the new face. Sinjin thought it was rather cute the way the baby was gazing up at the pretty blonde.
A few minutes later as Tracy was still cuddling the baby, String knocked on the door. "Cait said I'd find you here. We have about half an hour until dinner is ready," Hawke told them and Tracy looked up at him with a lovely smile.
"Your son is just adorable, Captain Hawke," she told him and he smiled proudly in return.
"Please, Tracy you know to call me String. And thanks, he gets it from his mother," he teased and Tracy laughed.
"Oh, good answer," she told him and Hawke just grinned and headed back to the living room. Sinjin reminded the kids to behave themselves and followed his brother.
"She sure is nice," Sinjin commented as he caught up with String.
"Hmm, oh, Tracy? Yeah, she's really a sweetheart. The kids adore her and she's done a great job with the child care center at Tala Star. Her and another lady named Christa run the center with a couple of the Navy medics with pediatric backgrounds that rotate out. They make sure the center is always staffed to cover all the workers kids. Michael set it up with Cait and I in mind but then realized many of the staff had kids too and decided that it was for the best to have everyone protected since the Lady has so many enemies," Hawke explained.
"I wondered why everything was all in that one place, medical, child care, research and stuff," Sinjin told him.
"Michael was tired of not being able to properly protect all of his people. He might seem paranoid but it is for good reason."
"Well, as long as he's protecting the people I care about, more power to him," Sinjin said with a smile.
Doc and Michael were chatting at the bar and watching the action in the kitchen when the Hawke brothers emerged from the hallway. "You guys want anything to drink?" Hawke asked and Michael nodded.
"Sure, Marella abandoned me to check up on Cait to make sure she's doing well since having the baby. Where are the munchkins anyway?" Michael asked, surprised the kids hadn't come out to greet them.
"They are all in Le's room playing with Jameson and now Tracy is with them," Sinjin explained.
"How are you doing, Sinjin? You look a lot better than you did just a couple weeks ago when I last saw you," Michael said kindly. The man was no longer ghost pale and seemed to be starting to put on a little weight.
"Slow going but I'm getting there," Sinjin told him. "I think being around so much family and friends has really helped more than anything else."
The former spy noticed his friend Hawke smile happily at that revelation. "I'm glad. Maybe you and I can get a chance to talk after dinner about your military service," Michael suggested and Hawke smirked a little bit. He figured he knew what Michael was up to and he fully approved of it as long as Sinjin wanted to do it.
"In what way?" Sinjin asked curiously.
"A potential job when you are ready, we can discuss it more later," Michael told him and Doc just grinned from his spot at the bar as he took a drink of the wine that Hawke had poured him. Michael had made a similar offer to him but he and Maxine wanted to remain at Crystal Lake running the Inn. He was considering taking more medical courses maybe to live up to his nickname a little more.
Dom and Cait came out of the kitchen to join them each with a glass of tea. "Almost all done, you guys can set the table with Marella and Max. Dom and I will put all the dishes here on the bar for you to take out," Caitlin told them and they all agreed. Sinjin said he was going to get the kids and get them washed up for dinner.
When they got everything on the table, Hawke thought it was good they'd built such a big table and so sturdy a table now. The turkey and Cait's southern dressing was joined by a platter with a beautiful stuffed and smoked salmon. There were mashed potatoes, a cranberry salad that Dom had made, rice that Tracy brought along with several side dishes of various vegetables and both rolls and savory biscuits. Desserts from pumpkin pie and cookies to a cherry cheesecake that Marella had made. It was more than enough to feed the guests with left overs to send home with them too.
Sinjin looked at the table for a few minutes before he sat down. This was more food than he'd seen in one place in many, many years. "If I don't gain some weight after today something is seriously wrong," Sinjin quipped and Dom laughed and patted him on the shoulder as they took their seats.
Hawke stood at the head of the table, carving the turkey and handing out slices to everyone as they passed their plates along. Jameson was in a cradle beside the table near Cait's chair and was fast asleep after his playtime with the kids and Tracy.
Once everyone had finished filling their plates, Hawke picked up his wine glass. "I'd like to say thank you to everyone here at this table. All of you have made this last year incredibly special to me. I am grateful to have each and every one of you in my life. I could not be more thankful for the life I've been blessed with this year from Emily, Le and Jameson coming into our lives to marrying Cait, seeing Doc and Max get married, Michael and Marella finally getting together and of course, bringing Sinjin home. Tracy I'd like to thank you for all the help you've been to our family and Dom, I wouldn't even be here now without your support. So, Happy Thanksgiving and here is to many more of them!"
"To many more!" everyone said together as they lifted their glasses as well.
The End – For now.
This was a year in the life of Stringfellow Hawke, from the time before Hawke left for DC at the beginning of the story to the next Thanksgiving. There will be additional tie in stories later to finish fleshing out questions left from this one but at over 30 chapters I figured it was time to end this one on a happy note.