Author's Note: Alright, here's chapter 2, where the real action starts! I would like to thank Blr and flora for reviewing the last chapter and giving me the courage to publish the next one. So here you go, enjoy!


Chapter 2: Home


Shane walked downstairs with Claire's breakfast tray, joining Eve and Michael in the kitchen.

"How is she feeling?" Michael asked, looking up from his coffee cup.

"Really sick of that question. She's on the phone with her mom again." Shane sighed. "She was really looking forward to going..."

Michael frowned. "I know, but there's not much that can be done about it..."

"Actually, I think there is." Eve piped up suddenly, sounding both tentative and a little excited. "I was thinking about it last night, and I thought, you know, maybe we could do a Thanksgiving dinner here."

Both boys stared at her. "More of those God-awful frozen dinners? Eve, I'm really sorry, but that isn't going to make anyone feel better." Shane said, without his usual snark.

"No, not those, dumbass. A real Thanksgiving dinner. With turkey and stuffing and gravy and everything! You know, we could make it as a surprise for her."

They didn't stop staring at her. "You mean, like cook it. Ourselves? Dinner? Eve, you do know that tacos and chili and hotdogs isn't really cooking, right? That we've never actually made anything complicated ourselves, right?" Now Shane's voice wasn't only snarky, but a little panicked.

Michael didn't sound much better as he added "And we don't have any of those things here, babe."

Eve rolled her eyes. "So we'll get the stuff! How hard can it be? People do it all the time, it can't possibly be that complicated."

"Eve, I've watched enough television to know that waiting until the day before Thanksgiving to get the food is a horrible idea. They won't have anything we want, and while we're on that topic, what the hell do we want, anyway?" Michael asked, still sounding a little alarmed.

"I'll make a list! We need gravy stuff, and potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and a turkey of course." Eve sounded smug, and more than a little proud of herself. "I was looking for easy recipes online, and I even wrote down everything we'll need, see?"

She produced a list from her pocket with a flourish. The boys eyed it warily.

"I don't know, Eve..." Michael sighed.

"Come on, it's for Claire! Poor, hurt, depressed Claire. We can DO this, I know it!" Eve begged, using her best puppy-dog expression.

"Dammit, I guess it can't hurt to try." sighed Shane. "I don't see how Eve's not going to let us do it, anyway, Mikey. But just so we're clear, I'm not wearing a flowery apron. And I get to carve the turkey, all manly like."

Eve squealed and jumped up to hug them both. "Okay okay, you carve and no aprons. This is great! Well, I have to go pull a shift at Common Grounds, can you guys go get the stuff from the list?" she grabbed her purse and started heading for the door, leaving Shane and a stunned Michael holding the list she had shoved in his hand.

"Wait, Eve, WE have to get the stuff?! But-"

Eve cut Shane off. "I've got work, and you two have the day off! We won't be able to get it otherwise, come on, you can do it!" she exclaimed, then blew them both a kiss and ran out the door before either of them could get another word in.

Shane looked over at Michael, who was examining the list with a slight frown.

"We've been had, haven't we?"

"Yep." Michael replied. Then he sighed. "I'll get the car keys." Shane shook his head and grinned, in spite of himself.

"I'll go make sure Claire's settled, and tell her we're leaving." He shook his head again. "But really, how bad can it be?"

XxxX

I would rather fight off a crowd of hungry vampires than EVER have to fight an old lady for the last can of yams again, Shane thought from his current position guarding the shopping cart. He'd just been benched by Michael from the grocery warfare after taking a particularly hard hit in the kidney via an old granny determined to have that one particular brand of yams. Not that Michael was faring much better; pitiful old housewives kept asking him to get things from the top shelf for them, only to steal whatever it was and leave Michael high and dry.

Shane wondered if everyone was like this, or if it was only the Morganville natives. Things were getting downright ugly, and it didn't look like it was going to get any better; this was the third store they had been in and they still weren't even halfway done. They were pleased, however, with the turkey, which they had wisely decided to get first.

He watched as Michael went to grab a can of green beans, only to be sidelined by a woman ramming into him with her shopping cart. Yet another women grabbed the last two cans.

Yep. Shane thought. Would rather fight the vamps.

He hoped the next store had the beans. And that his side would quit burning.

XxxX

Eve handed the coffee over, then turned to the register to make change. It wasn't quite as busy today with the college students, but there was still a lot of people who wanted caffeine. She heard one older woman say it kept her sharp for her last-minute shopping, and that sharpness was the only thing standing between her and some hoodlum who tried to take her yams. Eve almost felt sorry for anyone stupid enough to get between the woman and her prize; that cane looked dangerous.

Oliver came around the corner, and Eve caught his attention for the first time all day.

"What?" he asked, irritated. "I told you nobody else is coming in, you're getting paid over-time."

"It's not that," Eve said, trying hard to moderate her tone. Ordinarily she wouldn't have bothered, but today it seemed prudent considering she was asking a favor.

"Can I take one of those home?" she asked, pointing around to the pumpkin pies all boxed up at the corner of the counter. They'd been selling them all week, with Oliver wanting to take advantage of the season (and profits).

Oliver frowned, both surprised at her tone and her question. "Yes, fine, they're going to go stale anyway. Why?"

"I want it for tomorrow, for dinner." she said, relieved he'd just said yes and not wanting to go into it.

"Not that it's any of my concern, but a pie for dinner isn't very nutritious." he said offhand.

"We're not having it for dinner, with dinner. Like Thanksgiving dinner, you can't have it without pumpkin pie." she said, rolling her eyes.

"I was not aware you had to have pie with tacos." he responded, counting out the drawer.

Eve scowled. "We're not having tacos, we're having turkey, and all the fixings."

"Oh? Who's making it?"

"We are."

He dropped some change he'd been counting. "Pardon?"

She glared again. "We're fixing dinner, Thanksgiving dinner."

He stared at her, his eyebrows raised. "You're making it?" he asked. Did he actually sound alarmed?

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" Eve fumed, suddenly getting the feeling he was making fun of her. "It's important to Claire, so we're going to surprise her! And you're right, it isn't any of your concern." she huffed.

Oliver just shook his head. Eve heard him mumble "She'll be surprised, alright." as he walked off.

Fuming, Eve turned to get the next customer, a woman who was bragging to her friends how she'd snaked the last two cans of green beans from the store.

XxxX

"We're home!" Shane yelled tiredly as he and Michael walked in the front door.

They had been to every grocery store in Morganville, but they had gotten everything on the list. Or at least, they thought they had; Shane had lost the list at the store before last during a game of tug-of-war over a bag of potatoes with a 12-year-old mama's boy. Shane had also lost said tug-of-war contest when the boy's 10-year-old sister walked up and kicked him round the back of the knee. They had been kicked out of the store when Shane had picked up a discarded potato and threw it at the kid, though Michael had been able to snag a bag in the confusion.

"Hey, guys, that took awhile. What did you get?" Claire asked from the couch. Shane jumped and pushed Michael back a bit, trying to hide most of the groceries.

"Uh, nothin' much. Where's Eve? And how did you get down the stairs? You were supposed to stay in bed!"

"In the kitchen, she's been waiting for you. Why are you limping? And I didn't go down myself! I-"

"THERE you are!" Eve cried, popping out of nowhere. "Come on, come on, bring those in here! You sit tight, CB, I'll bring you something to eat in a minute." She hustled them into the kitchen. "Wait, is this all?"

"No, there's more in the car. How did Claire get downstairs?" Shane demanded.

"Michael, go sneak around the back and bring the rest in." she ordered before answering Shane. "And she was down here when I got here, along with Myrnin. Apparently he stopped by to give her some books to read and brought her down. He was here until just a bit ago, chewing me out for leaving Claire alone for so long. Where the hell were you? What took so long?" she snapped, glaring at them.

They stared at her in disbelief.

"Michael," Shane said finally, holding out his hand. "Potato. Now."

"You're not hitting her with a potato, Shane." Michael sighed warily.

"Give me that damn can of yams, then."

Michael just shook his head, then headed out the back door to get the rest of the food. Eve blinked at Shane a minute, then went over to the fridge and grabbed him a coke.

"Thanks." he sighed.

She shrugged, then said "Er, by the way, I, um, told Myrnin he could come."

Shane sprayed coke across the room. "WHAT? Why?!"

"Well, when he was more or less yelling at me, I told him what we were doing and it just sort-of came out!" she said defensively. "And keep your voice down, Claire will hear you. It will probably cheer her up more, you know she'd probably suggest it herself if she knew. And I told him he had to bring a dish if he came. He'll probably forget about it anyway."

Shane scowled. "Well, I know what I won't be eating, then." he muttered as he stomped over to the door to open it for Michael. "And it's a good thing we got a big turkey." Michael popped everything on the table, said turkey included. "I just don't know why nobody had grabbed the thing yet, I mean look at it, it's huge!"

"Maybe because nobody could lift it?" suggested Michael. "I mean, I had to carry the thing, I think it bent the cart."

Eve stared at it, horrified. "Did you maybe think THAT was why they didn't grab it? Because its the size of a pterodactyl?! How the hell is this thing supposed to fit in our oven?!"

"Well, yeah, but there will be plenty!" protested Shane.

"How long is this stupid thing supposed to cook?!" she demanded.

Michael looked at the tag. "Well, let's see, it says an hour for every..." he paused. "Uh, a very long time."

"Well, maybe you could start cooking it really early?" suggested Shane. "And I'm sure it will fit once it thaws."

They all froze. Then stared at the (frozen) beast on the table.

"It's frozen solid." whispered Eve in horror. "It's frozen solid! How the hell are we supposed to thaw this monster out by tomorrow!"

Shane looked at Michael frantically. "Uh, Mikey, does it have thawing instruction?"

"Yes, it does." said Michael calmly. "We should have started two days ago."

"Dammit!"

"Well, lets put it in some hot water in the sink, that should help it thaw." Michael said reasonably.

They all stared at the turkey, then the sink, then back at the turkey.

"No way in hell that's gonna fit. And mouth shut, Shane." growled Eve. Shane rolled his eyes.

"We'll figure something out," Michael said soothingly.

"What if we just put it in the bathtub upstairs?" suggested Shane.

"That...could work." Eve said slowly.

"But then Claire will see it." Michael pointed out

"We don't exactly have any better ideas." sighed Shane.

Eve nodded. "I think I have an idea..."

In the end, they put the turkey in a laundry bag and took it upstairs to the bathroom. Eve than artfully hung Michael's underwear all over and around the tub, telling Claire the clothes-dryer was broken and Michael's unmentionables needed to dry. Michael didn't particularly care for this plan (Shane had to leave the room, unable to keep a straight face) but it was the best they had, so Eve told him to deal with it.

"I swear, though, if that thing comes out of the oven in a pair of Mikey's boxers, I'm not eating it." Shane announced once they'd gotten Claire up to bed.

"Man, don't make me take out your other knee." sighed Michael.

Eve scowled. "We'll just have to get up early to make everything, and figure out a way to distract Claire for the day."

"That's going to be easier said than done." Shane sighed. "If I've got to get up to move Turkasourus in the morning, I'm going to bed early. 'Night."

They all agreed, and went off to bed to prepare for the next day.


AN: So there it is, chapter 2. Again, I'm sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes, or formatting issues, because I did notice those in the last chapter. Please read and review, I need to know how I'm doing here!

Edit (November 2014): Fixed several spelling and grammar mistakes, some formatting issues, and some frankly atrocious sentence structure. Again, if you noticed anything I missed feel free to let me know. :)