Georgie had been quiet lately, and very easily brought to tears. She had told Spinelli it was pregnancy hormones, which was partly true. But she didn't wan to think about the other reason for her current introversion and emotional behavior. Thanksgiving was coming and it would be the first without Maxie. Mack had invited Spinelli over; he was honestly fond of the kid. He would be very glad when he got out from under the mob. Georgie knew she had a lot to be thankful for, but she couldn't stop thinking about Maxie. She had been here last year; now she was gone. There were times when it still didn't seem real.
She understood Spinelli's need to be near Kendra while Jason was searching for Jake. No one except Lulu knew that Georgie had found out that Jake was Jason's. She couldn't imagine anything happening to Kendra, or to their new baby. She frequently placed her hand over her baby bump, which was beginning to show. They would not be able to keep her pregnancy a secret much longer. She trusted Spinelli. She would just have to trust that the two of them could overcome a vengeful Lulu.
TJ monitored the rest of the system while Spinelli concentrated solely on the information Jason needed to find Jake. After hanging up from a phone call with Jason, he turned to Georgie and looked at her with concern. She was holding her stomach and looking worried.
"Are you and the baby OK? Is something wrong?"
"No, no, everything's fine. I just- I'm worried about Jake, and also- I-"
She hesitated, looking away from him. He gently turned her head so she was facing him again.
"The Lovely One can tell me anything," he said gently.
"We're gonna have to tell people soon, which means we're gonna have to deal with Lulu."
"And we will," he said, putting his arm around her. "We can handle anything together. You and me and Kendra." Then he modified their good and bad mantra. "And the baby."
"You and me and the babies," she agreed, hormones making her cry again.
Spinelli hugged her and she put her head on his shoulder.
"It's not just the hormones," she said.
"Maxie; Thanksgiving is coming and you're missing her even more."
"You knew?"
"Of course."
Spinelli had hoped that would somehow make her feel better, but instead she cried harder. He knew at least part of that really was hormones, but he also knew that this Thanksgiving was going to be especially hard for Georgie, Mack and Robin.
Later, she was mortified to burst into tears again when they got the news that Jake had been found and was safely being returned to Elizabeth. Spinelli understood; he'd been great through all her mood swings.
Fortunately for her and everyone around her, she didn't get angry often, and when she did, something that would have made her angry under the best of circumstances was usually the trigger; it was just out of proportion now that her hormones were raging.
Kendra watched Georgie with confusion. She couldn't understand why her usually happy friend was so sad now. Daddy held her a lot and talked to her the way he talked to Kendra when she was upset. Kendra tried to talk to her and make her feel better, but nobody else understood her the way Daddy did. Maybe someday she would be able to make Georgie understand, too.
They talked it over and decided to tell all their friends at once about the pregnancy. They would all be invited to Spinelli's place the day before Thanksgiving for a smaller version of Thanksgiving dinner; turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and cranberry sauce. Georgie was looking forward to doing the cooking. She liked to cook and it kept her mind off Maxie and her hormones.
Spinelli helped, too. He was learning to cook from Georgie; it was a project they were both enjoying immensely.
Spinelli could sense Jason's reluctance to come over; it wasn't that he didn't want to see Spinelli and share in whatever news he had, it was that he and Elizabeth had agreed that they'd been right in the first place. Jake was safer away from Jason, and so was Elizabeth. There would be no more secret meetings. The couple was through for good.
But he agreed because Spinelli had told him that he and Georgie had an announcement to make an they wanted all of their friends to hear. Thinking that Spinelli had proposed and wanting to offer his support, Jason agreed to come. Spinelli knew instinctively that he wouldn't stay long. Neither of them knew he would have to stay and would be the last to leave.
"Can I make a suggestion?" TJ asked hesitantly as Georgie an Spinelli served the food. "In my house we always went around the table and said what we were thankful for this year."
"That's nice," Dillon said; he had just returned home today. "Our family had pizza, but we never were much for expressing our feelings."
"We did that at my house, too, when my mom was around," Lulu said.
"So did we," Nadine said with a smile. "You should start, Spinelli."
Spinelli and Georgie exchanged a glance, then Spinelli passed until everyone else was done. Lulu and TJ gave him puzzled looks, but didn't say anything.
"I'm thankful that I found good friends in Port Charles," TJ said.
"I'm thankful for my new niece," Nadine said, smiling at the contentedly babbling baby in Spinelli's arms.
Spinelli nodded with a smile and kissed the top of Kendra's head.
"I'm thankful that Spinelli and I are friends again," Lulu said, smiling at him.
They all turned to Jason, who looked directly at Spinelli.
"I'm thankful you got out when you did so you and your family could be safe."
Spinelli, Georgie, Sam and Lulu knew what Jason didn't say; he was thankful he'd been able to save his son.
"I'm thankful that Jason and Elizabeth forgave me," Sam said.
Very few people knew what Sam had done, but it didn't matter. Sam had redeemed herself when she'd helped Jason save Jake.
"I'm thankful to have this time at home," Dillon said.
"I'm thankful to be alive and out of the hospital," Mike said.
"Spinelli and I share this one," Georgie said, and turned to him, beaming.
"We're gonna have a baby," Spinelli said, all his joy contained in that one quiet statement.
There were different exclamations all around the table.
"What?""
You're kidding!""
Oh my God! That's amazing!"
"You're gonna be a dad again?"
Only Jason and Lulu were silent. Jason looked over at her and became instantly alert. This was not going to end well.
Lulu was determined not to ruin dinner. But as soon as it was over and everyone was gone, she would rescue the man she loved from this faker. Maxie had faked it; so was Georgie. Lulu knew it and she was going to prove it to Spinelli. It would hurt him, but he had to face it and she would help him.
