AN: Something lighthearted that popped into my head yesterday and I decided to write it out. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate, extra heavy on the "I love you" and "Be safe" because this world just isn't playing fair.
Tris knocks more snow off of her car, cursing herself again for not coming out earlier and at least starting it so it could warm up. She's supposed to be at her father's house in an a little over an hour, and with the amount of ice and snow on her car it may take that long to get the stupid thing thawed out. She didn't want to go home for Thanksgiving, especially since it's the first one since her mother died that her father is having his girlfriend and her family attend, but as her brother Caleb keeps reminding her it's unfair to expect her father to mourn forever. She knows she's being selfish, but she can't seem to bring herself to accept the "family" her father and brother keep forcing on her.
Natalie Prior had died of breast cancer four Thanksgiving's ago, when Caleb was eighteen and Tris only sixteen. It was her junior year of high school, and losing her mother after watching her go through a double mastectomy, months of chemotherapy and radiation just to find out the cancer had metastasized and had moved into most of her body was absolutely devastating. A mere two years after her mother had first learned of her diagnosis, she was dead, and her husband and children were left reeling.
Her father Andrew had been quietly mourning the death of his wife, all while trying to send one child off to college and get the other through high school. He buried himself in his job, and eventually he began dating one of Caleb's professors, a woman named Jeanine Matthews that both her father and brother couldn't stop raving about.
Tris didn't want to meet her, especially on the very holiday she lost her mother on.
She'd made excuses to miss meals she was invited to, she never showed up to any of the 'family' events the two put on, and in the almost two years his father had been dating Jeanine, Tris had managed to avoid any interaction with the woman. Until today, when her father and brother had given her no choice but to come back to the family home to have a proper family Thanksgiving dinner.
She finally gets the car door open, but when she tries to start her car she gets no response.
"No… no, no, NO!" She shouts as she hits the steering wheel with her hand. She knows as soon as she calls her Dad to tell him, once again, that her car won't start he will be so disappointed. Instead, she calls Caleb, and when he answers she can hear the sound of conversation going on in the background.
"Tris, please tell me you're not trying to cancel." Caleb says after she tells him about her car.
"I swear, it won't start, and I've tried reaching everyone I know around campus, they've all left already. I'm stuck here." She replies.
She hears another voice in the background, then the sound of Caleb covering the phone, and when he speaks again she's caught off guard by his suggestion, "Jeanine's son is only about fifteen minutes from you, he's heading back your way to pick you up, he just needs to know which dorm to park at."
"Caleb, no, I don't want to spend the next forty-five minutes in the car with a complete stranger." Tris argues.
"Nonsense, he's heading to the same house, and it'll give you two time to get to know each other. Besides, he's eventually going to be our stepbrother, might as well give him a chance." Caleb replies, "That's right, you're at River, she's texting him that now."
"Caleb, no, please just come get me-"
"Got to go, Tris. Jeanine said he'll be there within the next five or ten minutes. Can't wait to see you." He says before the line goes dead.
"I swear to fucking God!" She shouts as she gets out of her freezing cold car. She slams the door shut and then hears her text alert going off.
She finds a text from an unknown number, but based on the contents she's assumes this is Jeanine's son.
I'm parked at the River building. Black Toyota Tacoma.
T: Who is this?
I'm Eric, I was told to come here to pick up Andrew's daughter.
She looks over the parking lot and sees the truck idling in a parking spot. She can't quite make out the driver because the windows are so tinted, but she cautiously heads that way. When he finally gets out of the truck, she watches as he heads over to the passenger side and opens the door.
"You must be Beatrice." He says, his voice a deep rumble.
Holy shit, he is fucking hot. She thinks to herself. He's definitely built, you can tell even under the layers he's wearing. Icy grey eyes, full lips, and what looks like several days of non shaving stubble across his face. She can also see curls poking out from under his slouchy beanie.
"It's just Tris, my father and brother insist on using my full name, I hate it." Tris replies and she gets a smile out of him.
"I get it, my parents named me Ericson like I'm some sort of Viking, and they still call me that once in a while. Get in, warm up." He says and she does, watching him as he closes the door for her.
She's much hotter in person than her family pictures. He thinks to himself. She's maybe around five foot six, hazel eyes, long brown hair hanging out from under a beanie. He hopes that she's as cool as she is cute.
"A gentleman and hot, interesting." She murmurs as he runs around the truck and jumps back in.
"It's fucking cold out here, and starting to snow, got to love Chicago winters." He says as he backs out of the parking space.
"Seriously. My car had no interest at all in starting, so I really do appreciate you coming to pick me up. I hope it wasn't too far out of the way." She offers and he laughs.
"I go to the same school, I literally live over in Thornhill Hall. I've even seen you around campus." He replies and she widens her eyes at him.
"I had no idea." She replies.
"How would you? You've never met me, and I only know you from the pictures around your dad's place." He replies.
"You've been there a lot?" She asks and he shrugs.
"My mom kind of guilts me into these family dinners." He replies.
"Oh, yeah, my dad tries but I just avoid them." Tris admits.
"I noticed. I was expecting a drug addiction, or a secret boyfriend or girlfriend, something." He replies with a chuckle.
"Could be all three, you never know." Tris quips and he laughs.
"Intriguing. So, what are you studying?" He asks.
"Data forensics. I'm in my second year, how about you?"
"Criminal justice. Third year here. I'm surprised we're not in any of the same classes." He remarks and she nods.
"Seriously, our majors are so similar that you'd think we'd overlap." She replies.
She frowns as she looks down at her phone and Eric's alerts at the same time, "Are they calling you too?" He asks and she nods.
"I swear, you'd think this was the event of the century with the way they're harassing us. The weather is forecasting a snow storm, I couldn't have even gotten there had you not been kind enough to pick me up, for fucks sake, leave me alone." She growls and he laughs.
"Ditto, to every part of that. I'm so tired of this family bullshit. If they want to get married, good on them. If they want to pop out a bunch of babies when their kids are all grown, super. But, we are not siblings." He replies.
"Right? Do you know how many times I've been told my brothers, as in plural, are at the house?"
"Maybe the same amount as I've been told that my sister wasn't able to make another family event." He says, emphasizing the word family.
"Does it make me a horrible person to not be excited for this meal at all?" She asks.
"If it does, then I am horrible right along with you." He chuckles.
"How long are you planning on staying? I was all ready with my 'I have a ton of homework to catch up on' excuse." Tris asks.
"I had one all queued up too, I was totally going to say I had an assignment deadline." He admits, and then glances over at her, "Let's ditch them."
"Very funny." Tris replies.
"I'm not kidding." He retorts.
"They'd kill us." She shakes her head.
"They'd have to find us first." He grins.
"What would we do?" She asks, intrigued by his suggestion.
"I'm starving, so let's go find food, and definitely not that dry ass turkey." He makes a face and she laughs harder at him.
"There's this really good sushi spot, we're maybe ten minutes from it, you down?" She asks.
"Absolutely."
He hands her his phone and she put the address into the GPS, and they change their destination. They both turn off the option to share their location, and operation skip Thanksgiving is officially underway. They continue to get to know each other as they put more miles between them and their overbearing parents.
They each send a text, a white lie that says the storm is getting worse, so they're going to wait it out. Yes, the storm is worse, and it's also true that the safer option is to wait it out, but they have no intention of staying put.
The restaurant is surprisingly busy, but they're ushered into a small booth. They agree to share their dishes, so they opt to order several different sushi rolls to try.
"Confession time." Eric says as he drops his napkin into his lap, "I've never had sushi."
"Oh my God, why didn't you tell me?" She asks and he shrugs.
"I wanted to try it, and you were so excited, so I figured why not? Besides, it's away from our crazy parents, and it's not traditional."
"Amen to that." She agrees.
They get to know each other more, sharing little parts of themselves over their impromptu dinner. They get into more personal subjects, landing on how they're both feeling about their parents relationship.
"Are you having a hard time with your dad dating after losing your mom?" He finally asks and she puts her chopsticks down.
"Sometimes." She nods her head, "It's partially my fault for avoiding meeting your mom and her family for so long, but today isn't the best day for me to meet her, mostly because Thanksgiving day is when my mom died four years ago."
"Damn, I'm sorry, this holiday must be hard for all of you." He replies sincerely.
"Yeah. I mean, she's been gone for four years, and my dad is relatively young to have two adult children, I didn't expect him to be alone forever. It's just been hard, because obviously your mom and my dad are serious, and Caleb has taken two of your mom's classes so he has this bond, and I just never felt like I would fit in. No offense towards you at all, but I didn't want another brother. Like we said earlier, they can do anything they want, but forcing us to accept that this is our family now just felt weird."
"I agree. My mom started dating your dad before she was even divorced." He admits and Tris's mouth drops open, "Not like that, her and my dad had legally separated and my dad had already moved out, but it felt like she went from one serious relationship straight into another."
"How did your dad handle it?" She asks.
Eric scoffs, "My dad has another whole family that we didn't know about. I actually have a half sister who is literally four months younger than me. I also have two half-brothers, twenty and nineteen."
"Eric… wow…." Tris is at a loss for words, and Eric just shrugs at her.
"It's all good, he's with them now, and I'm in school and my mom seems happy." He replies.
"Are you happy?" She asks.
"Work in progress." He admits, "I try to be there for my mom, because I know how everything that happened with my dad hit me really hard, I can't imagine what it did to her. But, I have to admit, the forced interaction with your brother and dad are a bit much at times."
"And now you're stuck entertaining me." She replies and he shakes his head.
"This is cool so far, and while picking you up may have been forced, skipping Thanksgiving was all our decision, and it feels good to go against my mother's wishes."
"How old are you?" She asks.
"Almost twenty-two. You?"
"Twenty, twenty-one next month. Still can't legally have a drink." She replies with a chuckle.
"It's overrated. I feel like everyone in my dorm just wants to get shitfaced constantly, and I'm just trying to get through school."
"Same." Tris agrees.
"Are you dating anyone?" He asks boldly, and she feels her cheeks warming up.
"Nope. My last relationship fizzled after a few months of dating, and I've just been doing my own thing ever since. You?" She hedges.
He grins at her, "Same. Tried the long distance thing with my high school girlfriend, but it didn't work out. Been single for awhile, and I guess doing my own thing too."
"What are your plans after graduation?" She asks.
He uses his chopsticks to pass her a piece of sushi and then takes a piece from her plate, "I'd ultimately like to get into detective work, but I think I'll end up doing patrol officer work right out of college. I've got a job offer already from Chicago PD, so I feel pretty good about that. I'll be able to learn on the job and move up the ranks, I hope at least. What about you?"
"That's really nice to already have that lined up. I'm hoping to get one myself, but I think to get into the forensics side of the house I'll need to do some interning at first. I'm just hoping to be able to intern while I'm still a student so I don't have to take a non-paying job. My dad would love for me to move back home, but I'd prefer not to." She adds.
"I don't blame you. Do you want to stay in Chicago?" He asks and she nods.
"We moved here from California. My mom always wanted to live somewhere that had actual changing seasons. She loved the snow, and when we moved here she fell in love with the city. It's hard not to, especially for a coastal kid like me, and every time I think about leaving it feels like I leave my best memories of her behind."
"What was she like?" He asks.
"Kind. She was so selfless, but she was also brave and kind of a bad ass too. She had tattoos, and her nose was pierced too, it was like even though my dad is a straight laced executive, always serious and everything is just boring and grey with him, my mom was who brought the color into our lives." She smiles, "She loved the snow, we'd go out and build snowmen, have snowball fights, just all of it. Did you grow up here?"
He nods, "Born and raised. My mom had an offer to move to Buffalo for a job but my dad was adamant we stay. I guess he wasn't ready to leave his real family behind."
"I still can't imagine." She shakes her head.
"I don't say those things for a reaction, sorry for that." He replies.
"No, don't apologize, it's absolutely fine for you to speak freely with me. Trust me, I don't mind at all. Sometimes it's easier just to not have to censor yourself." She says.
"That's really cool of you." He smiles at her.
"Do you ever see yourself leaving the city at some point?" She asks.
"Not anytime soon." He says, and his lips turn up in a brief smile.
Eric insists on paying for their dinner, and he thanked her profusely for broadening his horizons to try sushi for the first time. By the time they leave the restaurant, the snow on the ground has almost doubled, and Eric looks over to where a group of kids, teenagers and adults are having a snowball fight.
"Want to join?" He asks.
"Hell yeah, lets go!"
Tris and Eric jog over to the crowd, where they are heartily welcomed into the game. They spend almost an hour there chasing each other, and the rest of the participants around, throwing snowballs, getting pelted and having an overall great time. When the game starts to break up, he changes gears, and starts to roll the smaller snowball into the start of a snowman. She just watches him for a few minutes, and he glances over at her.
"When's the last time you built a snowman, Tris?" He asks.
"Before my mom got sick." She admits and he walks over to her.
"Would you want to build one with me? Maybe make a different kind of memory?" He asks gently and she nods. She lets him take her mittened hand in his, and he leads her over to where he started the first layer for the snowman.
They get the three layers together, and then find sticks and rocks to decorate it and Tris stands back and admires their work.
"He needs a scarf, and a hat." She's about to take hers off and he shakes his head, and gestures for her to wait as he jogs to his truck. He comes back with an extra scarf and hat and drops both onto their snowman. Tris actually claps and smiles at the end result.
"We need at least one snowman selfie before we leave." She says and he smiles. She hands him her phone and he takes several pictures of them with their work.
"Send those to me, will you?" He asks and she nods, sending them over to the number he texted her from. She goes ahead and saves his number in her phone, and when she looks up he's showing her where he saved one of their pictures as her contact picture in his phone.
She blushes and then turns her phone to him, showing him where she did the exact same thing. When they walk back to the truck, Tris realizes that Eric had also started it when he was getting the hat and scarf, and when she gets inside not only is it toasty warm, but he had thoughtfully turned her seat warmer on for her.
"This weather does suck, I think we should head back to school honestly. If not, we may end up stuck at your dads overnight." He makes a face at her and she laughs.
"Sounds good to me." She replies.
They talk more the entire twenty-minute drive back, and when Eric pulls in front of her dorm she's hesitant for the evening to end. Eric seems to be feeling the same pull, so she decides to be brave.
"Would you want to come in? My roommate is out of town for the holiday, so we could watch movies." She offers.
"I'd love to." He smiles widely at her.
Tris can hear her cell phone ringing and she feels around on her bed blindly until she finds the stupid thing. She tries to answer but it's already gone to voicemail so she checks her call log and sees that she already has three missed calls from her father.
"Eric, wake up," She kisses his shoulder and he grunts at her, before turning over and tucking his leg in between hers, "We have to be at my dad's in less than two hours."
"Why did we let them talk us into this?" He grumbles in his sleep thickened voice.
"They're our parents." She replies.
"Fuck no, that's your dad, she's my mom. I'm not naked and in bed with my sister, step sister, or any of that other bullshit they try." He replies before kissing her lips softly.
"We're also going to have to eventually tell them about us." She says before she deepens their kiss and he pulls her closer.
She runs her fingers through his messy curls when they break apart and he snuggles into her neck and presses kisses there, "Why? We are having fun in our own little bubble. Besides, I'm dying to see who mom tries to set us up with this year."
"I wonder what perfect girl she'll find for you this time." She grins at him.
"She found my perfect girl when she sent me to pick you up from school four Thanksgivings ago." He replies as he presses a kiss to her neck.
She laughs lightly, "I guess she feels that I need to be married off ever since she and dad tied the knot."
"Oh, you will be, very soon." He replies as he picks up her hand and examines the ring he'd just placed on her finger last night, "Babe, give me one more holiday dinner. Let's have some fun with them before we let them in on our secret." He asks.
"Fine, but don't give either of them a heart attack with whatever you have planned." She replies, "and if you want to finish what we've started here, we need to multi-task, so let's go shower."
"Yes ma'am." He replies as he chases her into their bathroom.
He sneaks one more kiss from her from behind the safety of the dark tint on his truck's windows, and then he rushes over to help her out of the truck.
"I can walk." She protests.
"It's super icy out here babe, just let me be a gentleman." He smirks at her and she sighs.
He follows her into the house, where they're both surprised to see her father's co-worker Marcus Eaton, along with his son Tobias and daughter Maggie. They exchange pleasantries, and when Jeanine and Andrew join them in the room they share hugs.
Jeanine makes sure to introduce Tris and Eric to Tobias and Maggie, and Tris and Eric share a look at his mother's completely obvious attempt to make a love connection. Jeanine moves to take Tris's coat and other winter gear, and when she finally sheds her many layers the first surprise of the holiday is unveiled.
"What the fuck?" Caleb is the first to break the stunned silence.
"You're pregnant?" Andrew's jaw drops.
"When did this happen?" Jeanine asks, "How?"
"Yes, I'm pregnant, twenty three weeks, so that's the when. As for the how, I'm pretty sure you can figure that out." Tris answers sweetly, and she can see the shock on everyone's faces.
"You're not even married." Caleb says.
"Correct. You don't have to be married to get pregnant, did you misunderstand how this works, Caleb? Do we need to have a birds and bees talk?" Tris asks and Eric coughs to cover up a laugh.
"How did you not tell us? And you obviously knew, Eric, you and Beatrice are as thick as thieves, why didn't you tell us?" Jeanine asks, turning towards Eric.
"Well, because my fiancée is pregnant, and we wanted to announce it together." Eric shrugs.
"Your fiancée? Pregnant? We didn't even know you were seeing someone, either of you." Andrew replies, clearly still in shock.
"Oh yeah, I've been in a relationship for years, as a matter of fact it's four years today, and I just happened to propose last night." He replies nonchalantly.
"Four years?" Jeanine almost screeches, "You've dated someone for four years and not once have you brought her home to meet your parents? Your brother Caleb, your sister Beatrice-"
"Tris is definitely not my sister. She's my fiancée, and she's having our baby." He says and Tris shakes her head and laughs at him.
The asshole just went rogue.
Andrew drops into the chair, his face still a mask of shock, and Jeanine stands completely still in silence.
"Um, congratulations on your pregnancy and engagement." Maggie says, breaking the awkward silence.
"Oh yeah, congrats." Tobias adds awkwardly.
"We should give you all some privacy to talk," Marcus says as he ushers Tobias and Maggie into the other room.
"He's your brother, Beatrice, how in the hell did you think this was a good idea?" Caleb says.
Tris threads her fingers with Eric's, "He's not my brother at all, and we weren't exactly planning to have a baby but here we are. I was on some antibiotics that interfered with my birth control, and voila." Tris points at her belly, and Eric rubs it tenderly.
"It's great though, and we're happy." Eric smiles.
"Why wouldn't the two of you tell us you were in a relationship?" Andrew finally asks, "Especially one that has spanned four years and is serious enough for marriage and children?"
"Because every time I brought Tris up to my mother, she referred to her as my sister, and wanted to turn it into some sort of family discussion. Tris and I spent that first Thanksgiving with the snowstorm together, and we've been together ever since."
"But you've shown up to family functions, you were in our wedding, you two both graduated college, all of these family events and you never thought to tell us you two were an item?" Jeanine asks.
"We attended every one of these events together, except the graduation ceremonies, but even then, we were there to support each other. You all thought that the forced family ties were working, when the truth was that Eric and I never looked at each other like that. We fell in love, and we weren't hiding how we felt, we just didn't flaunt it." Tris replies.
"You two should have said something." Jeanine retorts.
"No, we shouldn't have because every single one of you would have tried to discourage it because you were forcing us to be a family. We've been happy, we love each other, and we're starting our family together. At any point when this had first started, would you have actually supported us, or would you have acted just like you are now, disgusted because your two children, who are not in any way related to each other, fell in love?" Eric asks, focusing on both Andrew and Jeanine, "Or you, would you have reacted in happiness that your sister was with me, or the same disgust you're showing now?" He asks Caleb.
"It's kind of gross." Caleb replies and Andrew puts his hand on his son's arm.
"No, it's not. I for one am incredibly happy for the two of you. Beatrice had a hard time accepting Jeanine, and you've helped her through that Eric. It's been obvious to me for years that you care for each other, and now I know it's been more than the family bond we have tried to push onto you. I'm happy for you both, and I am truly excited to welcome our first grandchild into the fold." Andrew says as he shakes Eric's hand.
"We will both be grandparents, right?" Jeanine finally asks and Tris nods.
"Of course, you will. Even if Eric and I weren't together, any child we'd have in any relationship we'd be in separately would be both of your grandchildren. Jeanine, I did have a hard time accepting you into our family, and Eric had helped me so much with that, but we were afraid that no one would understand Eric and I being together. We waited until the right time, but your granddaughter decided we needed to tell you now, since we can't hide her anymore."
"It's a girl." Jeanine smiles warmly and Tris nods at her.
"And I did want to get your permission to ask Tris to marry me, but we weren't quite ready to go public, and I couldn't wait anymore. This was all supposed to happen today, but last night I just sprung it on her." Eric says to Andrew, and he wraps his future son-in-law in a hug.
"I do consider you to be my son, and I couldn't ask for a better husband for my daughter, or father to my granddaughter. You have my blessing." Andrew says.
When they break apart, Eric slips Tris's engagement ring back onto her finger, and Caleb and Jeanine come over to offer their congratulations as well.
Dinner is a lively event, and for the first time since their parents had gotten together, Eric and Tris felt like they could finally breathe. They get to meet Caleb's girlfriend Susan for the first time, and even though he's having a hard time explaining Tris and Eric's relationship she dismisses his awkwardness and gets to know more about them. They both even enjoy the company of Tobias and Maggie, who may have been there as potential suitors for Tris and Eric, but turn out to be interesting people on their own. Despite the strange circumstances of this day, they all find themselves having a great time, and accepting that they are making new and meaningful friendships with Tobias, Maggie and Susan.
Later, when it's obvious that Tris is exhausted, Eric suggests they go home, and they share hugs and promises with everyone to spend more time together.
"That went well." Eric says as he helps his fiancée back into the truck.
She laughs at him when he sits down behind the wheel, "You almost killed them, with a one-two punch, springing the baby and the engagement on them at once."
"Wait until they find out we are eloping tomorrow." He grins back at her before pressing a kiss to her lips.
"Please tell me you didn't invite them." She sighs.
"We needed witnesses babe." His grey eyes sparkle at her and she gapes at him.
"You didn't, no, you wouldn't. Would you.? You did. You told them, didn't you?" She asks, "Eric, your mom is going to dress me in layers of frilly crap, and I'm almost six months pregnant. I'm not wearing heels, and I'm not wearing a white dress when it's quite obvious I'm not a virgin. Eric, please tell me you didn't tell them."
"Of course I didn't, but Tobias and Maggie are going to be our witnesses." He replies and her eyes widen.
"You seriously asked them and not anyone from our family?" She asks and he nods.
"I did. We both agreed that they were cool as shit, and I figured why the hell not? I mean, my mom did want us to spend more time getting to know them." He smiles widely at her and she scowls at him, "Are you upset?" He asks her and she shakes her head.
She can't keep a straight face, and her scowl quickly turns into a smile, "Hell no, and I can't possibly love you any more than I do right now." She replies as she crawls over towards him and presses her lips to his.
"I love you, Tris. I'm glad our parents forced us together four years ago. You make me so happy, and I can't wait to meet our little Natalie." He says when they break apart, placing his hand on her belly.
"Me too, Eric. It was certainly unconventional, but in their own way they truly did make us a family." Tris replies happily.