Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy!
The next morning, Cal and Gillian both were awoken by the sound of their crying daughter. Gillian rolled over and slowly and smiled at her little girl, "Hey there Pumpkin. Happy Thanksgiving," she cooed at Sophie.
Cal rolled over and watched his wife pick up and cradle Sophie. She would be a month old in another couple of days. Cal rolled out of bed and sauntered over to the other side where Gillian was. He kissed her temple and rubbed Sophie's head, "How was your night Princess."
Gillian turned around and said, "You should know. We were up half the night with her."
Cal sighed and nodded. Emily had been the exact same way though Zoe had been a little pushier for him to get up in the middle of the night than Gillian was. Gillian changed Sophie and then unbuttoned her pajama top to feed her. Unfortunately, even though it had been eighteen years, Cal's reaction was still the same for that part of caring for an infant.
"Cal, eyes up here," Gillian chastised her husband lightly.
Cal immediately looked up and smirked at his wife, "Did I mention how beautiful you are?"
Gillian rolled her eyes, "That part of me right?" she chuckled sitting down in the chair in their room.
Cal smiled, "No all of you love. Both of you," he said kissing Gillian and Sophie. After Gillian fed Sophie, the couple joined everyone downstairs for breakfast and the Thanksgiving Day parade, "Happy Thanksgiving everyone!" said Cal.
"Happy Thanksgiving Dad!" said Emily happily running over to her father and hugging him before looking down at her feet, "Mom and Tony called a little bit ago."
"Really? What did she want?" asked Cal.
"She wanted to know if they could come over for dinner," said Emily.
Cal looked at Gillian as she rocked Sophie in her arms. This was certainly unexpected by neither one of them wanted to be rude.
"I think the want to see Sophie more than anything," said Emily.
Gillian nodded, "Call them and invite them over," she said to Cal.
Cal nodded and made the call. After he finished the call, he put the phone down and said, "Well we've got an awful lot of cooking to do and there's a lot of us. Who's ready?"
"I don't know about cooking but I'm all about eating," said Tim.
"Always have been, always will be," said Gillian. Sophie started to fuss to be fed again and Gillian chuckled, "And clearly Sophie takes after her Uncle Tim." The family began to cook the turkey, stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. A few hours later, Loker, Ria, Zoe, and tony arrived at Cal's house.
"Happy Thanksgiving Dr. Lightman," said Ria.
"You too Torres," said Cal, "Main attraction is over in her bassinet," said Cal gesturing towards Sophie's bassinet.
Zoe walked over to Sophie and smiled, "Aw. Cal, Gillian, she's adorable!"
"Thank you Zoe," said Gillian coming up behind her and rubbing Sophie's chest.
"Or should I say Gillian she's adorable, because she looks exactly like you," whispered Zoe to Gillian.
Gillian chucked lightly, "Yeah that's what everyone has been saying."
"How's she doing?" asked Zoe. Gillian stopped confusingly, "Emily told us about Sophie's heart condition and surgery."
Gillian sighed, "She's doing a lot better than when she was born. But she definitely gave us scare. I mean all the contractions, all the pain; she's worth all of it."
Zoe smiled and nodded, "Yeah they definitely are," she said glancing over at Emily, "She'll be in college before you know it."
"Don't remind me," said Gillian.
"Ladies, I believe dinner is ready," said Tony.
"We're coming sweetheart," said Zoe. Gillian cradled Sophie, "She's pretty small. It's hard to believe Emily was that small once."
"Yeah 7 lbs. even and 18 inches long at birth," said Gillian.
"Yeah Cal said you managed to do it without pain medicine," said Zoe, "I was screaming my head off until I got the epidural."
"Yeah. Don't know what I was thinking," said Gillian putting Sophie in her high chair.
Everyone sat down for dinner and said grace before they began to eat, "So I figure we should say what we're all thankful for. I mean since it is Thanksgiving," said Tim.
"Alright son, you start," said Mike.
"Well I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my annoying little sister…"
"Jerk," smirked Gillian at her brother.
"Love you," said Tim, "And I'm also very thankful for my niece."
"Well we're both thankful for our two beautiful children," said Joyce smiling and Tim and Gillian, "And we're also thankful that we get to spend our first Thanksgiving as grandparents."
"I'm thankful for the amazing group of colleagues I get to work with every day. And the second family I spend with outside of work," said Ria.
"Ditto," said Loker.
"Well I'm thankful for great parents," said Emily, "Two great step-parents, an adorable baby half-sister. Maybe Mom and Tony will give me another half-sibling."
"Emily, that ship sailed a long time ago," said Zoe.
"You never know," smirked Cal.
"Well I'm thankful for an amazing daughter who's grown up to be a caring young woman. I'm thankful for the man who helped me create her," said Zoe, "And I'm thankful for every other special person in my life," she smiled grabbing Tony's hand.
"Well I'm thankful for my parents, my annoying brother…" smiled Gillian, "For my step-daughter, for the woman that delivered and raised her. I'm also thankful for the man who gave me the one thing I've always wanted. My little blessing whom I'm very thankful for," smiled Gillian as she cradled Sophie in her arms.
Cal took a deep breath, "Well there are a lot of things I'm thankful for. But I'm grateful I get to boss around some amazing colleagues," he said looking at Loker and Ria and they chuckled, "I'm also very thankful for the couple that brought the love of my life into the world, for her brother for always making me laugh, for the mothers of my daughters, and for my two beautiful baby girls," said Cal. Everyone at the table smiled, "Happy Thanksgiving everyone!"
"Happy Thanksgiving!" they all chorused and started on dinner they all truly enjoyed together.