A/N: Mostly fluff and group bantering, with a tinge of angst. Apparently, that's my style. I'm leaning in and embracing it these days. It's pretty short, by my standards, at least. Enjoy!
Chapter 31—Friendsgiving
***The Fennel house, Thursday, November 26, 2009, 7:30PM Thanksgiving evening***
Alicia Fennel ushered Mac and Dick into her dining room. An assortment of pies, cakes, brownies, and cookies were laid out in the center of the large dining table. It was a veritable cornucopia of pastries. Also competing for prime real estate was a large vase filled with Sun Flowers, ringed by small pumpkins and gourds lying atop a ring of beautifully colored, dried fall leaves. It was rustic, and homey, a direct contrast to the formal centerpieces that had adorned the Sinclair table.
Everyone exchanged greetings with the newcomers.
Mac looked around the cozy room, the honey-colored wood floors blended well with the warm golden yellow walls. Wallace was at one end of the Shaker style table; Veronica was holding court on the other side. Piz was seated between Wallace and an empty seat that Mac assumed had just been vacated by Alicia. Logan was on Veronica's left side, as far away from Piz as was geographically possible. Mac figured Piz and Logan in the same room had to be almost as high on the Awkward Scale as the combination of her, Dick, and Madison. Then again, Veronica's taser probably did an admirable job in assuaging delicate male egos.
Alicia found an open spot for the platter of vegan Cinna Melt cookies. Mac counted that as their contribution to the dessert party.
"They're like Snickerdoodles, but veganized," Mac explained, looking at Wallace. "I can't take credit for them, Lucille made them."
"She's the Sinclairs' cook," Dick explained in that casual way of an oh-niner. To him, the idea of having a personal chef was as natural as breathing.
"So, that's how the other half lives," Wallace said. "Talk about upper, upper bougie." He reached over to grab a couple of cookies and dropped them on his dessert plate, adding, "you had me at Snickerdoodles."
"They look good, sweetie," Alicia said, addressing Mac. "Veronica made an apple crisp just for you, as well." She grabbed a cookie and took a big bite. "Delicious. I can't believe they're vegan."
"They don't even taste like cardboard," Dick added. "Lucille is a magician with vegan foods."
"Aw! Thank you kindly, Bond, for putting your mad baking skills to good use." Mac said.
"Vegan baking and good use, isn't that an oxymoron?" Dick asked, and then laughed and put his arms up in mock surrender as Mac's hard punch landed on his upper arm. He flinched at the contact.
"Are you calling me a moron?" Wallace asked, mockingly.
"Of course," Veronica replied, addressing Mac. "I couldn't leave my Q out while the rest of us gorged on cakes and pies."
"Well, I'll leave you kids to entertain yourselves. I'll try to hold Keith back from the desserts, at least until you all have had a chance to fill your plates," Alicia said, grinning. "I make no promises though." She popped the rest of the cookie in her mouth. "It's a tough job, but I'm tougher," she added after swallowing.
"It's every woman for herself, I get it, mom." Veronica assured Alicia. "I hope it's not like the opening scene of 2001: a Space Odyssey."
"Monkeys clubbing each other," Mac filled in. "Anarchy, chaos." Veronica's mom label towards her dad's new/old girlfriend didn't escape her notice. However, before she could launch an inquisition, her attention was splintered.
"Mac," a tall blonde squealed, entering the room. She launched herself at her friend.
"Parker!" Mac exclaimed, her voice unintentionally matching her friend in tonality. They hugged.
"Park her?! Hey! I hardly know her." Dick said, sotto voce, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Plus, my girlfriend would kill me." He added, looking at Mac.
"I'd help her bury the body so far down no one would ever find you." Veronica helpfully supplied.
"I thought you'd be in Denver." Mac said, ignoring the death threat V had just issued her boyfriend.
"She couldn't bear to leave me alone for the entire holiday weekend," Piz explained.
"Exactly, only flip flopped," Parker corrected. "Piz begged me to stay. I couldn't say no. Mom's pissed, but she'll get over it by my 40th birthday, I hope." She sat back down in the empty seat on Piz's other side. She picked up her wine glass, taking a big sip of red wine. She gestured at the two empty chairs across from her. "Have a seat. Tell me about Thanksgiving with your two moms."
Mac took the chair beside Wallace, so Dick could sit by Logan, his BFF and partner in crime.
Mac shrugged in response to the shocked expression on Veronica's face. After so many years of closely guarding her secret, it was freeing to tell people. Plus, Parker wasn't some stranger on the street, next to Veronica, she was her only other close friend of the female persuasion.
"Your two moms?" Piz asked, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds like an 80s sitcom. Or maybe a reboot thereof."
Apparently, Parker hadn't shared Mac's news with anyone else, even Piz, her boyfriend/second appendage. She loved that neither of her girlfriends were hardcore gossip spreaders.
"It would make a good TV show, lots of drama." Mac admitted. "I found out recently I was switched at birth. So much of my entire life has been ruled by an error and yet I was barely one day old. It's amazing to me that one careless mistake can cause so much fallout for everyone involved." Mac paused briefly. She cleared her throat before continuing, "Dick and I had Thanksgiving with my bio family and my real family. The girl I was switched with was the biggest bitch at Neptune High. Our parents sat us down a couple of months ago and told us the whole sordid tale. I guess they discovered the truth when we were toddlers, but for some reason both families decided to keep the kid they were already raising. The truth had been kept from us for way too long." Mac's voice trailed off.
"Whoa," Piz exclaimed. "You really did have Thanksgiving with your two moms. How did it go?"
Mac laughed, but it wasn't an amused sound. "Well, it was as awkward, and dysfunctional as it sounds, but we made it work. For the most part, at least." She looked down at the plate in front of her, unable to look anyone in the eye as she recounted her auspicious start in life. She hated the looks of pity the retelling of her birth always inspired. "At least there wasn't any bloodshed."
"We survived to tell the tale," Dick added. "Plus, fun fact, Madison, the girl who was raised by Mac's bio family, is also my ex-girlfriend. We dated off and on through high school."
"Mac's an upgrade," Veronica couldn't resist adding. "A big, big upgrade." She spread her arms far apart as a supplemental visual aid. "Huge."
Dick nodded his agreement. "The biggest upgrade," he added.
"Madison Sinclair? You were switched with Madison Sinclair?!" Wallace asked on a gasp. His facial expression was almost comical.
"Yes, the succubus herself," Veronica affirmed.
"Have you ever had a Twilight Zone Thanksgiving? Because I just did. I spent four hours eating dinner and talking to this room full of blood-related strangers, some of whom even share my face." Mac announced.
"Share your face?" Piz repeated. "Do you keep it on the even days of the week? Who gets custody of it on the odd days?"
Parker shot him a dirty look and apologized for her boyfriend's humor. Mac just waved it off. She figured he was trying to lighten the mood.
"Speaking of sharing faces," Dick interjected, "do you guys remember Tara from this summer?" She was the cool night nurse in the ICU," he further elaborated.
"Vaguely," Logan replied, at the same time Veronica stated that she remembered her, and Wallace just nodded.
"She's Mac's cousin," Dick divulged.
"And it was just one big coincidence?" Wallace asked, skeptically.
"Nope!" Mac drew out the o. "Apparently not. My bio family has connections everywhere."
"When we're talking connections like that, to the area's top doctors and nurses, I don't think that's a bad thing," Veronica cut in. "Not when you're the beneficiary, Mac. When my bestie's life is hanging in the balance, I want you to get every advantage there is. Tara really seemed to care about you, and part of the reason I liked her so much was she reminded me of you." She paused for a beat before adding, "Now I know why."
Mac suspected Veronica had already solved that case a long time ago but was keeping that intel to herself. "Tara and 'Mom1' had quite the tearful reunion today, too. I saw them bonding quite a bit, after the obligatory family introduction portion of this dinner from Hades."
"What do they put in the water supply of this defective town?" Piz said, then added a mumbled "sorry" as his girlfriend glared at him for the second time in the space of approximately ten seconds.
"I've been trying to figure that particular mystery out since birth," Veronica admitted.
"Hellmouth," Wallace said. "As I told you guys this summer this whole frakking town is on a Hellmouth! You can't change my mind. Anyway, Mac, I'm sorry that happened to you." He paused briefly, then added "I can kind of relate. I met my bio dad in high school. Mom had led me to believe my dad, who died before we moved here, the one that raised me, was my real dad. I was pretty messed up for a long time." He looked around the room as he said it, as though he was making sure his mom wasn't in hearing distance.
"Thank you," Mac said. She remembered that Wallace had left for Chicago their senior year of high school, but he came back a few months later. Veronica was a mess the entire time he was gone, though she'd tried to hide it. "Yes, it's a real mind warp, that's for sure." She paused for a few seconds, before softly adding, "sometimes I wonder if it really was a mistake though."
"You wonder if what was a mistake?" Veronica asked softly, cocking her head.
"Was I really raised in the wrong family? Was it really a mistake?" It was a rhetorical question. Mac still didn't know the answer, but she was starting to think the Mackenzie's were the best parents for her, because of their differences, not despite. The talk she and 'Mom1' had the previous night was still swimming around her thoughts. It was the catharsis she hadn't even known she'd been craving. "I know the Sinclair's have money and connections, but I don't know if I missed out on all that much."
"Mr. and Mrs. Mac are awesome," Dick added. "They're like sitcom parents. You know, the opposite of mine." His voice was matter of fact, but his turned down mouth and soft voice revealed tangled emotions simmering below.
"Join the club," Logan muttered in agreement.
Mac reached under the table and squeezed Dick's hand. "But it has been nice getting to know Lauren."
"Mac's bio sister, the Sinclair's younger daughter," Veronica filled in, looking at Wallace and Piz.
"Sounds like things have worked out really well," Parker agreed, her tone thoughtful. "This is the best-case scenario, isn't it? I mean, now you can get to know your bio family, but remain a Mackenzie at the same time. If they had switched you guys back when you were a toddler, there would have been a whole big custody mess. Right?"
Mac shrugged. It was all just conjecture.
"The cost of this arrangement is spending time with Madison," Dick countered. "But then, that's what alcohol was invented for."
"Lots and lots of alcohol," Veronica muttered in agreement. "Gallons of the stuff."
"Are we going to have dessert or just talk all night?" Wallace said, impatiently. He followed that up by reaching over and grabbing a couple more cookies and dropping them on his plate.
"Why choose?" Logan interjected. "I can multitask."
"I'm a girl," Veronica added, "it's in our genetic code."
"So, you finally admit it," Logan smirked.
"Admit what?" Veronica asked, squinting her eyes, and glaring at her boyfriend.
"You're a girl."
"Shush. I thought that was a state secret." Mac sassed, putting her index finger in front of her mouth.
"I'm an expert multitasker," Veronica continued, ignoring Mac and Logan's dig about her gender. She followed that declaration up by grabbing a generous piece of pumpkin pie and adding a big dollop of homemade whipped cream from the bowl next to the pie.
"Do you even have room for more dessert?" Mac said, turning to Dick. "He had pumpkin pie at the Sinclairs'."
"I couldn't offend Mrs. S."
"You don't want to offend my mom, either" Wallace added. "That's not good for anyone's health. She's been baking all week."
"I wouldn't dream of it. I'm a growing boy, I still have plenty of room for more pie," Dick assured everyone, petting his belly.
"At your age, it's more like growing outward, not upward," Mac grumbled under her breath.
"Yet, I haven't heard you complain about this bod," Dick replied, smoothing a hand over his pecs.
"La la la. La la la," Veronica said in a sing song voice, fingers in her ears. "No one wants to hear that, Dick." Parker echoed her agreement.
Everyone filled their plates with the pies, cookies, and cakes. Quietness spread out as they started eating. Mac took a generous helping of the apple crisp Veronica had made just for her. She put a smaller scoop on Dick's plate, too, next to his generous sized slices of pecan and apple pie.
"Mom," Veronica suddenly shouted. interrupting the serious business of eating. "You better hurry up if you want dessert. Logan is already eyeing a second piece of pumpkin pie."
It wasn't as much the volume and the subject of the comment that caught Mac's attention, rather it was what her friend kept calling Alicia that had her doing a double take. Mac turned to look in Veronica's direction; eyebrow raised. "Bond, I can't help noticing Mrs. Fennel's new title."
"Title?"
"Mom." Mac said. That wasn't an honorific her friend used lightly.
"Oh yes, that. I'm just practicing." Veronica said, trying to sound casual. Her face giving nothing away.
"Practicing for what?" It annoyed Mac when her friend was purposely vague, this wasn't a newly acquired habit for her. She waved her hand in a hurry it along motion.
"Keith proposed to mom last night," Wallace cut in. He laughed at the glare his future sister flashed him. "What?! You were taking too long."
"Hey, little bro, it's called setting the scene." Veronica balled up a napkin and threw it across the table.
"Right, the two-month age difference between us," Wallace mocked.
Just then Veronica's dad and Darryl, Wallace's younger brother, burst into the room. Alicia on their heels. "Finally! I'm not sure I could've held them back any longer," she said by explanation.
"You did good," Veronica assured Alicia. "We've already helped ourselves. The rest is yours."
"We'll leave you a few crumbs," Keith promised as the three of them started filling their plates, sampling everything.
"Hey, now, what about if we want seconds," Logan complained.
"Talk about growing outwards," Veronica snickered. She followed the declaration up by taking a big bite of pie.
"Or thirds," Piz added.
"I guess you want to grow outwards, too," Parker echoed, nodding her head towards her boyfriend.
"You're allowed to overindulge this one day out of the year," Veronica's dad said. "It's the law."
"That's right, listen to the former sheriff," Alicia replied as she leaned over the table to place a small scoop of the vegan crisp and grab another Cinna Melt cookie to add to her already full plate.
"So, I hear congratulations are in order," Mac effused.
"You heard correctly. Thank you," Alicia replied, beaming. She stuck out her left hand showcasing her new piece of jewelry. It was a big blue sapphire flanked by two small diamond settees.
"Thanks," Keith said. "You learn at our age that it's important to go after what you want, and that time can be fleeting."
"Your age, dear," Alicia corrected. "I'm younger than he is."
"By a whole year and a half," Keith muttered.
"That's 10 years in dog years," Darryl added.
Mac laughed. "It's a beautiful rock, Ms. Fennel."
"Thank you, Mac."
"I know, right. Baby bro and I helped dad pick it out," Veronica proudly announced.
"When is the wedding?" Parker inquired.
"Sometime around Valentine's Day, I think. That's subject to change though" Alicia said.
"Keith wants a Vegas wedding, but I doubt the boss will approve that request," Wallace interjected. He smiled at the glare his mom gifted him with. "What? We all know that's true."
"It is, mom," Darryl backed up his older brother.
"Someone's got to lay down the law," Keith snarked, "and apparently I was voted out of office in my own home, too."
"I'm not against Vegas weddings," Alicia conceded, "but Neptune is our home, we want all our friends and family to share in the day, not everyone can travel to Vegas."
"Well, if you do end up with a Vegas wedding be sure to make it an Elvis wedding," Dick advised.
"When did you turn into a wedding planner?" Logan asked.
"I'm just saying all Vegas weddings should be an Elvis wedding. That's like a law and shh…crap," Dick snickered, then laughed at the glare he earned from Mac. "What? I didn't curse."
"Maybe I should take Darryl and his impressionable ears out of here," Alicia teased.
"Mom!" Darryl grumbled. "I'm not a child anymore."
"We've filled our plates," Keith replied. "Let's give your brother and sister time to visit with their friends. How about we beg your mom to cue up Mario Kart, and she can challenge the winner."
"Okay. I'll try not to embarrass you too badly," Darryl agreed
"Correction, I won't embarrass you too badly," Keith said, as he shepherded his fiancée and son out of the room, dessert laden plates in hand.
"Don't forget your reading glasses, dad," Veronica called out to her dad's retreating back. All she got in reply was a grunt.
"Who gets the top bunk?" Piz teased.
"Me," Logan cut in before anyone else could. "I get the top bunk. And I might be persuaded to share," he said, directing the last comment to Veronica with a come hither look on his face.
"Ha, ha, dude. Sheriff Mars would tase your balls," Dick announced, before taking a bite of pecan pie.
"It's not a pony, but I guess finally getting 2 younger brothers is a nice consolation prize," Veronica teased, pointing at Wallace. "I've always wanted someone to boss around."
"You do that already," Wallace noted. "Our parents' marriage won't effect that either way."
"Except now I can add 'bro' to the end of your instructions," Veronica maintained. "That lends a greater sense of urgency to things."
"No," Parker corrected, "it'll just make it even easier for Wallace and Darryl to ignore you."
Mac watched Dick's mood drop in direct proportion to the subject of brother-sister teasing that continued. It was a subtle shift, his downturned mouth, the tapping of his foot, the way he began to play with the pie more than eating it. Her protective girlfriend instinct kicked in, and she laid a hand on his thigh, lightly squeezing. Dick shifted his left hand and placed it on top of hers.
"I'm okay," he leaned over to whisper in her ear.
She didn't feel reassured. It must have been broadcast on her face because he added, "Seriously. I don't want to stop people from talking about their siblings in front of me, it's not anyone else's fault that I was a shit brother. I'm not the conversation police."
Mac wondered, for probably the 1,200th time, if it bothered him seeing her get closer to Lauren. She didn't think so, especially considering how encouraging he'd been from the start, and he knew more than anyone else how much of a living fantasy it was for the two of them to become closer. "Does it, you know, hurt you to see me with Ryan and Lauren?"
"Not at all. It's fine, Mac," Dick repeated, still whispering. "I'm okay. I'll be right back." He stood up, and addressing Wallace, asked where the bathroom was. Veronica was the one who pointed in the general direction though.
"Should I follow him?" Mac leaned over the empty chair to ask Logan.
"He's a big boy. I think he can manage to potty on his own," Logan snarked, but then leaned closer to Mac to add softly, "just give him a few minutes. Holidays always make things worse." He shrugged.
She knew he spoke from firsthand experience. Logan's lineage and abused past combined to make him an adept actor, he was very good at hiding his pain from his friends. Losing his mom around the holidays always made it a bittersweet time for him, as well.
When Dick came back, a few minutes later, a smile on his face, the subject of sibling teasing had been laid to rest. Mac gave him an appraising look, searching for signs as to whether it was forced, or if he was genuinely better. The wink he gave her in return was reassuring.
Veronica was regaling the group with a story of a case a student in her apartment building tried to embroil her in back in Palo Alto.
"I had to tell him I was out of the PI business. I don't know where the leak was, I thought I'd hidden my secret identity pretty well."
"Are you sure you didn't inadvertently flash the Bat Signal?" Wallace asked.
"You should open a case, find out where that leak stemmed from," Mac teased. "I can lend out my hack-pertise, we can plug that leak together."
"Again, I'm out of the game now," Veronica said slowly, carefully enunciating every word as though she were talking to toddlers. "I've been living a normal life for the past two years. I like it, I like it a lot." Veronica tried to explain. She paused for a beat, then added, "For now, at least."
"Who are you trying to convince Bond? We know you, remember?" Mac couldn't resist throwing that out there. Adrenaline junkies with an innate sense of justice couldn't live a normal life, it just wasn't in their genes. Not that normal was a concept Mac was familiar with, nor were any of her other dessert eating companions. Normal was definitely not their watchword.
Veronica stuck her tongue out at Mac in lieu of using her words.
"Herself," Logan replied, answering the rhetorical question.
"The betrayal, betrayal," Veronica groused, taking her eyes off Mac, and planting them on Logan. She further sold it by dramatically placing one hand over her forehead, palm up, with the other on her heart, playing up the Shakespearian worthy drama. "Yours, dear Logan, is the unkindest cut of all." Then, dropping her diva pose, she followed it up by taking a big bite of apple pie.
"I see the pain of my betrayal of knowing you down to your very soul has not dulled your appetite," Logan responded.
"I must keep up my strength in these difficult times," Veronica returned. She heaved a fake sob.
Since a person could only banter Shakespeare quotes and dramatic declarations for so long, Mac decided it was time to change the subject. Her tone serious, she said "Your parents are so cute together."
"Old love is adorable," Parker gushed.
"Especially reunited old love," Logan added.
"Apparently, my coma brought them back together," Mac explained to Piz and Parker.
"Don't forget Logan and Ronnie," Dick couldn't resist bringing up. "The latest installation of their epic romance was born in the Neptune Memorial waiting room, too."
Mac watched Logan's face as Dick teased her favorite new (old) couple. Logan had a soft expression on his face as he tracked Veronica's movements, apparently unaware he was being observed. "That's right, my coma brought a lot of people back together. Glad I could be of service," she mocked.
"And us," Dick leaned over and whispered in Mac's ear. "Don't forget to add us to your list."
Mac drew back and just looked at him for a moment. "We're in the coveted top spot," Mac murmured back. Once again, she mused about how many changes in her life began with a bad pitch. That thought was often her stalker these days.
"That was one of the worst moments in my life, when Veronica called me this summer to tell me you were in the hospital," Parker lamented, fighting back tears. "And I was so far away. I wanted to be there so bad." She pushed her plate away, even though there were still a few bites left of apple pie. Piz wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. "But I'd just started the internship, and I couldn't afford a flight back here."
"I'm sorry," Mac stammered. She wasn't sure why she was feeling contrite, everything regarding the accident had been entirely out of her control, but she'd always hated being the cause of anyone's pain, even if it was indirectly.
"You're the last one who needs to apologize," Parker mused, shaking her head.
Mac listened as talk turned to the events of the summer, her stay in the ICU specifically, but didn't feel the need to add anything more to the subject. She was on the outside looking in, it felt as though the accident they were talking about happened to someone else, not herself. Those were their stories, hers were in a different category altogether, one she kept under lock and key. Looking over at Dick, she noticed his hands balled into fists under the table. He'd played witness to the entire event, and she suspected he was still suffering from PTSD.
Mac was relieved when that subject finally fizzled out, she'd been about to take the conversational reigns back.
Parker cut into her thoughts. "Are we still on for rooming together next semester?"
"Yes, please. Please get me out of casa de Mackenzie!" Mac beseeched. She folded her hands in prayer and briefly looked skyward.
"You know, you could always move into the Grand with me," Dick said. There was a teasing grin playing on his lips, so Mac wasn't sure how serious that invitation was.
"Right!" Veronica drew out the word. "Mr. Mackenzie, um Sam, would steal my taser," she stated, then added, "I'd let him keep it. Dad would probably introduce him to his contacts on the Grand's security team. I think they still exchange Christmas cards every year."
"I can set up a few apartment tours for next week," Parker continued, ignoring Dick's alternative idea altogether. "I'm ready to get out of the dorms. I'm too old for that crap. All those freshman cat fights, no thanks."
"Oh, you should call me next time, I could referee," Wallace offered. "Just to set the scene, do these cat fights involve pillows and short nightgowns?"
"I'd be happy to help you with your referee duties," Piz offered, grinning at the punch his girlfriend gifted him with in return for his generous offer of assistance.
"Back to these freshman girls. Are they wearing their hair in pig tails or Princess Leia buns?" Dick added. "I need all the details to be able to fully picture the scene."
"Princess Leia buns?" Logan repeated. "Who are you and what you have done with Dick Casablancas?"
"It's hot!" Dick defended.
"In a geeky kind of way," Piz qualified, then added, "Princess Leia buns do appeal to my inner geek."
"Dick's a padawan apprentice now," Veronica explained to Logan.
"Wait. You have an inner one?" Mac asked, looking at Piz.
She smiled as her friends continued to joke around with each other. Mac was happy to finally be getting back on track with her life. Though moving back home had been necessary, being able to move out again was a giant step forward, one she was excited to take.
TBC…