The next few days were spent cleaning, shopping, and cooking for Thanksgiving. Alastor was especially hard at work in the kitchen, making sure that every dish was cooked just right. This was a very big day for him too, because his parents were finally going to meet his girlfriend and he in turn was going to meet her parents. Oh sure Alastor knew of Lucifer and Lilith Morningstar and their reputation, but he had never actually gotten to know them and he was determined to make a good impression.

"Everything looks and smells delicious Al." Charlie said entering the kitchen. "I'm almost tempted to start eating right now."

"Patience my charming demon belle." He chuckled. "I still haven't finished with the desserts and I'm especially anxious about that because sweets have never been my specialty."

"Why not have Niffty help you with that part?"

"I would but the poor darling is already under enough pressure with the cleaning. She's running all over the hotel mopping, and dusting, and spraying air freshener. She's even putting plastic on some of the furniture."

"Isn't that bit much?"

"Well her grandparents are extreme neat freaks so I can understand wanting this establishment to be squeaky clean. My parents are both food critics and that's why I want to make sure the meal is perfect."

"I get it. My only worry though is that I hope Dad doesn't try to pick a fight with Uncle Gabriel again."

"I'm quite surprised that your parents agreed to come." Alastor said. "From what I hear your father can't stand to be in the same dimension of your uncle, let alone under the same roof."

"Well like you. my father can't resist a good piece of meat and when he heard we were having turkey, he said wild hell hounds couldn't keep him away."

"Oh shoot!" Alastor cursed. "I forgot to tell you, I couldn't find a turkey for dinner."

At that moment, Angel had stepped outside to grab a smoke and he was right next to the kitchen window that had been left window.

"The store didn't sell any turkey?" Angel heard Charlie ask.

"No they sold plenty of turkeys." He heard Alastor answer. "Unfortunately they were all stolen by glutton demons."

"Well we have enough food to feed everyone. We have enough to feed all of Hell, I'm sure."

"But I wanted this meal to be perfect. For you, for your parents, and mine. No meal is complete without a main course."

"How about a tofu turkey?"

"Good golly no! That would be an insult to my father, he was a hunter and a butcher. If meat is served, he expects the real deal. Not some fake, pasty, garbage."

"I'm sorry but I don't know of anything else you could use."

"Hmm...Well I could always serve the other white meat."

Angel almost choked on his cigarette.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

"You know, pork, sausage, ham. Yes I think a nice ham would be just the right substitute."

"I suppose ham could work but I haven't seen any on sale recently."

"We don't need buy one. There's a fresh one just upstairs."

Angel was suddenly as still and quiet as a statue, his eyes carefully peering over the window sill and his ears carefully listening to the conversation.

"Alastor that's not funny." Charlie said in strict tone.

"Who's joking?" Alastor replied.

"You better be joking. There is no way in Hell you are cooking Fat Nuggets for Thanksgiving dinner! I forbid it!"

"Oh come now dear, be reasonable. It's a pig. Pigs were created solely to be eaten, and we can always get Angel another pig."

"Absolutely not! I won't hear of it!" She started speaking in her royal voice. "I'm serious Alastor, as Princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I order you not to harm Fat Nuggets."

"As you wish my lady." He seemingly consented. "I will simply find another meat source."

"Good. Now I have to go pick up my parents from their castle and my uncle from the gates. I should be back in about an hour or two, it all demands on how much chaos is in the freeway, while I'm gone don't cause any trouble."

"Trouble? Charlie I can't believe you have so little faith in me."

Charlie suddenly grabbed Alastor by his shirt collar and tooking him by surprise by pulling him into a long, deep kiss. Angel watched as Alastor's eyes dilated with static, smoke came steaming from his ears, and his shadow briefly took the form of a heart getting hit by Cupid's arrow.

"Mwah!" She moaned against his lips before they parted. "Alastor I love you very much and I have a lot of faith in you. But I'm not so naive as to think that you are incapable of making a mistake. So please, please don't get into your less commendable desires today or that'll be the last kiss you receive in a very long time."

"I live only to please you my princess." Alastor said with a love sick smirk on his face.

"Alright then." She said fixing his collar. "See you when I get back."

The very instant she exited the kitchen, Alastor fell, flat-face on to the kitchen floor.

"I guess that means Nugsy is safe." Angel thought.

But still he wasn't completely sure that Alastor could be trusted. So he quickly went back to his room and started to read a magazine while sitting next to Fat Nuggets who was snoozing on a pillow. He didn't leave his room for three hours, keeping close watch for anything that could possibly try to harm Fat Nuggets. But then nature called and he had to leave for just a few minutes.

"What am I worried about?" Angel thought as he entered the men's restroom. "Smiles is twisted but he's not that twisted. He wouldn't kill my Nugsy just to make a good dinner. Vaggie's paranoia is starting to rub off on me."

He approached the first urinal, unzipped, and started to relieve himself.

"Here, piggy, piggy, piggy." Angel suddenly heard Alastor's voice call. "Hello there little Fat Nugget."

"He wouldn't." Angel said, close to panicking.

"Won't you follow me into the kitchen? I have a very important job for you." He heard Alastor continue. "Thanksgiving dinner just cannot be possible without your assistance."

"No!"

Angel bolted from the restroom and into his room, grabbing Fat Nuggets just as Alastor was reaching for him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Angel snapped at Alastor. "Back the F' off!"

"Oh dear, goodness, gracious in Heaven! Angel! Make yourself decent man!" Alastor said covering his eyes.

That's when Angel realized that in his haste to stop Alastor, he had forgotten to pull up his pants.

"You're one to talk on lecturing someone on decency!" Angel said fixing his wardrobe. "You were going to cook my precious Nugsy even after Charlie specifically told you not to."

"When I return from bleaching my eyes." Alastor said leaving the room. "We will finish this discussion."

But Angel had no intention of continuing that discussion. Until Charlie came back, he was going to do whatever it took to protect Fat Nuggets. So he left his room and began trying to find a suitable hiding spot. Husk's room? No Husk would squeal once Alastor offered him a drink bribe. Niffty's room? Hell no, the way she was cleaning everything up today, a pig in her room would make her blow a huge fuse. Vaggie's room? Perfect! Alastor would never think to look in there. No one was allowed in Vaggie's room.

Without thinking or using any common sense, Angel just walked on into Vaggie's room and hid Fat Nuggets under her bed.

"Alright Nugsy, do Daddy a favor and don't poop under there. I'll already be in enough trouble when Vaggie finds us here, so don't make things worse."

"Aaaah!"

The room was pierced by a high pitched scream and Angel realized that he had spoke far too soon. Vaggie was already in her bedroom and she was only wearing a bath towel while green paste covered her face.

"Oh shit!" Angel cried.

"What are you doing here?! What do you want?!" She had one hand gripping her towel tight around her and the other hand was reaching for her harpoon.

"Wait! I can explain!" He protested.

"Don't look at me!"

"Sorry!" He covered his eyes.

"Get the F* out of my room!"

"I can't! You don't understand!"

"You better understand that you have five seconds to get out before I chop off your head and mount it on the wall!"

"I didn't come here to peep on you. It's an emergency! Alastor is trying to cook Fat Nuggets!"

"What are talking about?!"

"I overheard him talking about it with Charlie. He couldn't find a turkey for tonight's dinner so he's decided to substitute it with ham and he's going to use the meat from my pig!"

"Charlie wouldn't let him do that."

"You're right, she wouldn't. So he waited until she left to pick up her relatives."

"Seriously? That's low even for him."

"I know. I gotta hide Nugsy!"

"And you chose to hide him in my room?!"

"I was desperate!"

"Not to mention stupid! Take your pig and get out!"

"Come on Vaggie, you know hiding from someone like Smiles isn't easy. He could find a needle in haystack in pitch black darkness. I need help!"

"We will talk about this when I am dressed. For now, wait outside."

"But-"

"Damn it Angel! Get out and let me get dressed or I'll have Alastor serve you for Thanksgiving dinner! Fried spider is an actual dish, you know?!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm going!"

He grabbed Fat Nuggets from under her bed and stepped out the door. Vaggie slammed the door shut and locked it.

"For God's sake, a girl can't even enjoy an avocado facial in peace." She complained.

She washed her face, put some clothes on, fixed her hair, and finally came out of her room. She found Angel and Fat Nuggets hiding in the broom closet that was just across from her.

"Took you long enough." Angel said. "I think I can hear Alastor sharpening his cutlery."

"Will you calm down?" Vaggie said. "Let me go talk to him. When Charlie's gone, I'm in charge and that grinning shit-lord wouldn't dare try anything on my watch."

"No offense, but he's not intimidated by you. In fact he normally laughs at your attempts to keep him in line."

"Do you want me to help you or not?"

"Yes! Please help me!"

"Then shut up and let me do my job."

She went back to her room and grabbed her harpoon. Next she went down into the kitchen where Alastor was gleefully rubbing a knife against a whetstone.

"There we go, nice and sharp." He said. "Now what should I baste the meat in? Butter or gravy? Gravy is more traditional but I think that butter makes the meat more tender. And of course there's the matter of the pie and the beignets, getting them to taste right will be a challenge for someone like me."

"What do you think you're doing?" Vaggie asked with the sharp end of her harpoon, now pointed to his back.

A sudden, static sound could be heard.

"Why I am merely putting the finishing touches on Thanksgiving dinner. Cooking up the main course and the desserts."

"And what main course did you have in mind? I heard it's not going to be a turkey."

"You're right it isn't going to be a turkey. It's going to be a quite surprise though."

"You're not really planning on serving up Angel's pig as the main course, are you?"

Alastor chuckled.

"My dear, where in the world would you get an idea like that?"

"Angel overheard you talking about it with Charlie."

"Oh did he? Well he should know better than to eavesdrop."

"Alastor I understand the temptation to screw with Angel more than anyone, but you better stop this right now! Not today! Alright?! You're not going to ruin this for him!"

"I'm not trying to ruin anything. On the contrary." He turned around and used his finger to tip the harpoon end downward. "I'm going out of my way to make this a most splendid Thanksgiving."

"Then do it without Fat Nuggets."

"No can do my dear, I need that little porker."

"For what?"

"For-"

"You know what don't even bother lying to me okay?! Because I knew it! I knew it! I knew you would never really change for Charlie! You would just pretend to be reformed and then go back to your psychopathic ways behind her back and when she finds out about this, you are out of here!"

There was a glitch. Alastor's smiling expression didn't change but Vaggie's words struck a nerve and he thought that she needed to be taught a lesson.

"Well if you're so sure that I'm a heartless monster then you really shouldn't have left Angel and his precious pig alone and unprotected."

Vaggie gave him a horrified look. She knew that Alastor hadn't of changed completely and that he was still sinning behind Charlie's back, but she never thought he'd do something as awful as this.

"But I'm a fair fellow so I'll give you and Angel a ten second head start to try and hide that delectable little swine."

Vaggie angrily moved to cut him with the harpoon but he dodged her attack with ease, jerked the weapon from her, and threw it out the window.

"You know it's almost adorable how you think that you can actually enlist some form of fear in me." He laughed.

Vaggie ran from the kitchen, went up the stairs, and headed straight for the broom closet, flinging the door open.

"You we're right! I can't intimidate him! But Charlie can so we'll just keep the pig out of harm's way until she's come back!" Vaggie said.

"Good plan!" Angel agreed. "But where do we hide him?"

"I don't know! But he's giving us a ten second head start so let's not waste it!"

"Right!"

Back and forth, right and left, for ten seconds they scoured around the hotel, trying to find the perfect hiding spot for Fat Nuggets.

"I seriously can't believe he's doing this." Vaggie thought to herself. "After what we all talked about and planned, how could he do this to Angel? I knew he was no good! I can't wait to see Charlie dump his lying ass!"

"In here!" Angel said tearing out the entrance to the hotel ventilation system.

"I don't think he'll fit in there." Vaggie said.

"He has to! It's the only place that might actually work!" Angel said. "You've never seen Al when he gets really hungry, he searches relentlessly for his food choice!"

But just as Vaggie had suspected, Fat Nuggets was a little too fat and chubby to get through the air vent entrance. At least not without help. Angel and Vaggie pushed hard and he squirmed and snorted in irritation.

"Quiet Nugsy!" Angel said. "You want to live to see Christmas don't you?"

One more rough push and Fat Nuggets was inside. Vaggie then closed the air vent door and Angel pushed a chair in front of it.

"Oink! Oink! Oink!" Fat Nuggets squealed terribly.

"What's wrong with him?" Vaggie asked.

"Oh no! I forgot! Fat Nuggets is afraid of the dark. He can't stand to be left alone in it for too long or he'll panic."

"Well quiet him down. Air vents have a very strong echo."

"Go get him something to eat, that usually helps. I'll stay here and talk him down."

"Got it! But what does he eat?"

"He's a pig, he'll eat anything."

"Oh right!"

She hurried downstairs to find some food while Angel quietly hushed Fat Nuggets the best way he could. He just had to save this pig. He had to. Fat Nuggets was all he had. His parents and brother disowned him, he had disappointed his sister, Cherri was a loyal friend but she couldn't be with him everyday, the only constant companion he had was Fat Nuggets and there was no way he was going to let anyone take him away from him