Hey guys. I finally updated this story. I know that it took a lifetime and a half and I am really sorry. I had massive writer's block and I was got sick when I got over it. I plan on updating this one more regularly. I also plan to finish up "But Not Forgotten" soon. I'll try and get the next chapter up by the end of the week.

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"Why exactly is everyone coming here for Thanksgiving again?" Grace whines to her mother.

"Grace, we've been through this already," Lily responds with a sigh. "I invited them so that everyone will finally get a chance to meet," she finishes.

"But we already met Rick, Jessie and Eli. Who could possibly be left to meet?" She whimpers.

"His kids haven't met Lily yet. None of them have met my mother and we get to meet Rick's mother too," she says with a wistful smile.

"Can I go to Dad's?" Grace asks, not looking forward to another torture filled evening staring at Jessie and trying desperately to be discreet about it.

"Grace, at least try and like Jessie. I know you may find that incredibly difficult, but she is not that bad sweetie," Lily says while rubbing her temples, trying to block an impending migraine.

"Yeah, fine. Whatever," Grace mumbles as she walks off dejectedly.

Grace sits back down on The Stool.

"'Why can't you just like Jessie?' She says," Grace sneers while mocking her mother. "I don't think that you'd appreciate exactly how much I like her."

She shifts in her position and looks at her hands. "I know she's not bad. I don't think that Jessie could be bad if she tried," Grace sighs and looks back up.

"Oh shit," Grace mumbles. "They're here," she whines as she looks out the window and sees Rick's minivan pull up.

"What's your problem Grace?" Zoe asks.

"I don't have a problem. I just think that this is way too awkward," she says, trying to justify her strange behavior, earning a strange expression from her sister. "It's just strange getting to know all these new people. I don't know. It just feels weird."

"Grace, Zoe, come here," Lily instructs as she opens the door. "Hi," she says as a greeting to them all. "How are all of you?" She asks as she gives Rick a peck on the cheek.

"We're good," Rick says softly as he kisses her back.

"Nice to see you again Lily," Peg says as she hugs her. Barbara quirks an eyebrow at this. "Hi, I'm Peg, Rick's mother," she introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you," Barbara responds unenthusiastically.

Peg ignores her tone and turns her attention to Grace and Zoe. "Hello there," she says to them.

"Hi, I'm Zoe," she introduces herself. "This is my sister Grace," she says with a dark expression and Grace smiles faintly. "Hi Jessie," she says with excitement.

"Hi," Grace says awkwardly to Jessie, averting her eyes. Jessie smiles back equally uneasy, but for different reasons.

Jessie sits on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest and her thin arms wrapped around them. "Why couldn't I have just told Dad that I was sick?" She laments to herself. "I can't be here. Everything just feels so...off. I mean, Grace is just pretending to be nice. The look on Grace's face makes me want to crawl under a rock or something. It's unreadable and I have no idea why she's so uncomfortable around me," she sighs.

"I can't eat tonight. I mean, what are they going to think. They'll probably think about what a pig I am. I really should have stayed home tonight," she sighs.

God, does she ever shut up? Grace thinks as she glares at Zoe, who is talking everyone's ear off. She looks over at Jessie, who looks absolutely miserable as she pushes the food on her plate around.

"Hey Dad," Eli begins, brining Grace back to reality as she sees Rick acknowledge his son. "Can I go, me and the guys were going to practice tonight?" He asks hopefully.

"No Eli, we're getting ready to have dessert, that would be rude," comes Rick's irritated response.

Eli whines, "But Dad-"

"Drop it E," Rick says agitatedly. Eli slumps into his seat and sits with a pissed off expression.

Grace looks back over at Jessie, who looks even more upset than before.

"This night could not have gotten any worse," Grace states from the Soliloquy Stool. She sighs hard. "Poor Jessie. She looks so upset. I hope whatever's wrong with her turns out okay," she says sincerely with a far-off expression.

"It was nice seeing you again Jessie," Grace says as the Sammler clan prepares to leave.

Jessie smiles her first genuine smile that Grace has seen. "Yeah. You too Grace," she says as she leaves the house, leaving Grace with a stupid grin on her face.

Lily shuts the door and sighs. She smiles at Grace's expression. "What are you so happy about?" She asks.

"Nothing. I'm just glad that the night is finally over," Grace says, which is part of the truth.

"Right," Lily says, convinced that there's more to it, but sure that Grace won't elaborate anymore.

Grace practically floats to her room, still reeling from Jessie's attitude toward her at the end of the night.

"She has such a beautiful smile. I wish she would do it more often," Grace says wistfully. "I can't even remember the last time I'd seen her smile, especially at me. What a feeling," she says, almost as if in awe.

"This is it," Grace says with resolve as she stomps her foot down. "I resolve from here on out to not be mean to Jessie. I will do everything I can just so that she will look at me like that again," she states with determination.

Rick walks into Jessie's room and sees her listening to her walkman. "Goodnight Jess," he says softly.

She turns around. "Goodnight Dad. I'll see you in the morning," she says with a faint smile. Jessie turns back around.

Rick pauses in the doorway a moment. "Jess," he says to get her attention. She turns back around and takes the headphones off of her ears. "Are you feeling all right honey?" He asks.

"Yeah. I feel fine, why?" She asks suspiciously.

"Well, it's just that you haven't seemed to be very hungry lately," he says.

"I'm hungry all the time," she says slowly. What is he getting at? She wonders.

"It's just that I get the feeling that you haven't been eating lately," he says and Jessie starts to play with her blanket unconsciously. "And sometimes we don't eat when we are upset with about something," he explains.

"I'm fine Dad. I do eat," she lies.

Rick nods his head as tears from behind his eyes. Jessie turns away, hiding tears of her own as she puts her headphones back on. "Jess," he says again.

"Huh?" She says as she turns around, her eyes reddening slightly.

"Never mind," he says as he walks out, closing the door behind him.