Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for the squeal-inducing feedback! And thanks to Mari for the assist once again.

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!

Surprise Thanksgiving (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

"Can I have a snack, please?" DJ asked, entering the kitchen to see both his parents at the island.

"Sure, honey," Catherine replied. "How about string cheese?"

"Yum!" he replied, heading for the refrigerator. After grabbing a mozzarella string cheese stick, he came up between where his parents stood at the island to see what they were writing. "Didn't we get everything at Costco?" he asked when he realized it was a shopping list.

"This is for Thanksgiving," Catherine said.

"Isn't it a little early?" the nine year old asked, looking between his mom and dad. "Thanksgiving is still over a week away."

They shared a small smile before Steve answered, "Don't want to wait till the last minute in case we can't get something."

"Like the time there was no turkey cause Aunt Mary didn't defrost it?" He chuckled at the now well known family story.

"That was more of a cooking mishap, and we couldn't get a replacement, this is about not getting all the supplies ahead of time," Steve explained. "Mommy and I had a surprise Thanksgiving once and we had to scrounge for stuff."

"And you know how there's limited supplies for special occasions here on the island," Catherine said.

"Yeah, 'cause so much stuff gets imported from the mainland." DJ nodded. "Ms. Lane taught us that last year in social studies."

"Right, my smart boy." Catherine ruffled his hair and he grinned.

"Can you tell me about the surprise Thanksgiving? How was Thanksgiving a surprise?"

Steve laughed. "The holiday wasn't a surprise, spending it together was the surprise."

"This is the third store, Steve," Catherine said with a sigh as they looked at the empty freezer box. They'd been to every grocery store within a twenty mile radius of her apartment. "I don't think we're going to find a turkey."

"Yeah," he agreed with a sigh. "Probably for the best anyway. We've only got four days and probably wouldn't be able to eat all the leftovers, not to mention a whole turkey."

"Unless we ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Besides, we may have used all our Thanksgiving luck with your mission wrapping and me already having leave." Catherine's eyes danced with her smile.

"And me getting space on the only hop leaving this morning so I could get to you."

She glanced up at him. "It's not too late to just grab some takeout before the restaurants close and make it stretch till Saturday," she said.

He shook his head. "It's Thanksgiving," he said. "The first Thanksgiving that it's just us. We should have Thanksgiving food."

She smiled, a little surprised but touched at his insistence. "Okay, then. We'll improvise."

He grinned back. "I like it, Rollins. Lead on."

"Grab a cart, sailor. Let's do side dishes first and then figure out what to do about a turkey."

"I … don't think I knew you could make mashed potatoes out of a box," Steve said, staring at the item in his hand.

"They'll probably taste artificial, but the refrigerated brands are out and so are the actual potatoes," Catherine replied. "And this way we can just make what we need and what's left in the box won't spoil."

"True," he acknowledged, and shrugged, tossing the box into the cart. "Can't be any worse than MRE potatoes."

"You might want to reserve judgment," she warned, and looked into the cart to take stock of the contents.

They had found the last can of cranberry sauce on the shelves, probably left because of the massive dent in the side, a can of Baja Corn Blend, selected because all the regular cans were gone, a package of just-add-water gravy, snap peas instead of green beans, a bag of baby carrots, and a box of Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights in lieu of the traditional pumpkin pie for dessert.

"What's left?" he asked, doing a similar mental inventory. "Stuffing? Maybe there's a box of Stovetop left …"

"Leave the stuffing to me," she said. "See what you can do about macaroni and cheese and I'll meet you back at the meat section so we can figure out the turkey."

"Copy that."

"I found a pouch of fettuccine alfredo," Steve reported upon rejoining Catherine. "It says boil and serve."

She chuckled. "It is pasta and cheese sauce," she said. "Maybe we'll start a new tradition."

"What's all this?" he asked, noticing several new items in the cart.

"I found some snack size celery sticks marked down because of the date they were cut, a bag of frozen diced onions misplaced in the frozen section, and some chicken bouillon cubes. I'm going to make you the best approximation I can of my family's homemade stuffing."

"Ahh the famous Rollins Stuffing," he said with a smile. "That's what the bread's for? I thought maybe they were out of rolls."

"They are. We can use a few slices of bread instead."

"So that just leaves the turkey …?"

"I checked to see if they had any whole chickens, but they're out of those, too. We could just cook a couple of chicken breasts, I guess …" she said.

He shook his head. "We've come this far, it's gotta be turkey."

"Steve, really, it's okay …"

He spotted a sign and smiled slowly. "I've got an idea," he said, grabbing the cart. "Follow me." They walked over to the deli counter.

"What can I get for you?" the man behind the counter asked.

Steve quickly scanned the meat on display. "Ha, there. We'll take a pound of that turkey. Slice it real thick."

Catherine chuckled as the man went back to the slicer. "Lunchmeat?"

Steve grinned at her and shrugged. "What? We've already got the bread."

She continued chuckling, shaking her head.

"Hey, at least it's actually turkey," he pointed out.

"Probably the last turkey in the store," the man said, hearing their conversation.

"Yeah, we know," Steve said. He glanced at Catherine and smiled. "We're improvising."

After another minute, the deli worker handed over the package of sliced turkey. "There you go. Happy Thanksgiving."

"Thank you," Catherine said. "You, too." She placed the package in their cart and surveyed what would become their meal. "Maybe not the most traditional Thanksgiving dinner but …"

"We've never been very traditional," he finished, reaching for her hand.

"Exactly," she agreed, giving his fingers a squeeze. "I have a feeling this Thanksgiving dinner is going to be one to remember."

"And it was!" DJ said, smiling happily. "It didn't matter what food you ate, because you got to be together for a surprise Thanksgiving, right?"

"That's exactly right, sweet boy," Catherine said, leaning down to kiss the top of his head.

"It was one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever," Steve said, smiling softly at Catherine. "And that's the biggest reason why."

DJ smiled happily, finishing the last of his string cheese. "Can you tell that story again when Angie gets back from Ashae's? She'll love it."

"Of course, honey," Catherine said. "That's a great idea. Now why don't you take Cammie out for a little playtime before dinner."

"Okay, Mommy!" he said, and headed out of the kitchen, calling for Cammie as he went.

Steve smiled, eyes following their son for a moment before turning back to find Catherine looking at him. "What?" he asked.

"What were the other reasons?" she asked curiously. "You said it was one of your favorite Thanksgivings ever and that getting to be together was the biggest reason why. What were the other reasons?"

"Ah," he said in understanding, and smiled slowly. "Well, because of our … untraditional menu, the only thing that really took any prep time was the stuffing. And that meant we could spend most of the day doing … other things."

Her own smile grew as she turned to face him more fully, sliding both hands up his chest. "Mmm, did we? My memory's getting a little hazy as the years go by. What 'other things'?"

He glanced out the kitchen window and confirmed that DJ was well occupied tossing Cammie's favorite ball, so wrapped his hands around Catherine's waist to pull her closer.

"Let's just say we didn't spend much time in the kitchen that Thanksgiving," he said, his lips hovering just above hers, "and that's the other reason."

"It's coming back to me," she said, pressing her lips to his in a long kiss. After a moment, they parted, but remained in each other's arms. "No more surprise Thanksgivings for us," she observed, and kissed him once more. "Makes the memory of the one we did have that much better."

He grinned. "Maybe we add thick sliced lunchmeat and snap peas to the list … for old times sake."

"Throw in some Pumpkin Delights, and you've got yourself a deal."

Hope you enjoyed!

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